Breathing machines are an important treatment for sick people in intensive care units (ICUs). People who are sick in ICUs often choose to go on breathing machines because they want to do everything they can to get better, because they do not want to give up hope, or because their doctor advises them that the treatment is temporary. If a person is sick enough to require treatment with a breathing machine for more than 1 or 2 weeks, doctors recommend putting a small hole in the person's throat (tracheostomy). Providing ventilation through a breathing tube inserted into that hole is possibly more comfortable for the person, is safer for their vocal cords and airways, and is self-healing once the tube is removed. However, some people depend on breathing machines even after tracheostomy and even after their condition has improved enough for them to leave the ICU and hospital. Doctors have long suspected that people who require a breathing machine for much longer than average do not do well, regardless of whether they are eventually able to be weaned off of it. However, information about what happens to those people medically has not been carefully collected.