[da_chicken]

Eh, there's a league of difference between "does fine" and "does well".

I'm willing to bet she's had many doctors suggest modern alternatives and that she's tried alternatives, not the least because iron lungs are generally not produced anymore so they're more difficult to maintain and can't easily be replaced.

However, if she truly prefers it and it's therapeutic and she's able to maintain the device... what's the problem? "This other thing is a newer treatment," isn't really a description of efficacy or appropriateness or therapeutic benefit or patient comfort or outcome.

Just because something is old doesn't mean it's bad. A treatment that's proven to be effective for 50+ years shouldn't be discarded out-of-hand because newer treatments exist.