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My speculation is that a vent is not useful beyond a week, and only useful as a very last ditch effort when someone cannot breath on their own. It weakens the body's respiratory muscles from the moment it's switched on, so if the underlying reason a person couldn't breath was lack of respiratory endurance, it makes the problem worse.
A case where a vent might help is if a person normally has enough respiratory endurance at rest to survive, but is battling infection which has raised the amount of effort needed to breath at rest. If that person can beat the infection within a few days, and return to normal breathing effort, a vent can help.
My grandfather went to the hospital with a broken leg, was given a UTI and C-diff while there. He then went on a vent for about a week since his base level ability to breath was only adequate to function at rest. When the vent was removed (several times), he didn't have the endurance to breath.
The main takeaway; people should take some responsibility for their own health by training themselves to a level of health capable of handling slightly above resting conditions, and not being obese. These are conditions most people are capable of addressing.
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