Happened to Alex on Lost. Then they bumped her off to motivate her weasel of a stepfather. Classic example of the woman in the fridge trope. That's where I drew the line and stopped watching Lost. Never regretted dropping it.

I think it's a matter of principle to drop shows when the writers/creators/whatever cross a certain line in mistreatment of audiences or characters. We shouldn't continue to give them our support when they go too far that way. We shouldn't stand for it. Buffy is a rare exception of show which was good enough that I continued on with it after such a line was crossed (the AR).