Well, that’s overanalyzing it, perhaps. Anyways, basket cases used to refer to soldiers in America after World War One. This, from phrase.org:
In its original meaning this term comes from the US military immediately following WWI. Strangely, it was never used to describe an actual person but only in denial of any such servicemen existing. This bulletin was issued by the U.S. Command on Public Information in March 1919, on behalf of Major General M. W. Ireland, the U.S. Surgeon General:
“The Surgeon General of the Army ... denies ... that there is any foundation for the stories that have been circulated ... of the existence of ‘basket cases’ in our hospitals.”
This bulletin was reported on in many U.S. newspapers at the time. Many of them also defined what was meant by ‘basket case’; for example, this from the New York paper The Syracuse Herald, March 1919:
“By ‘basket case’ is meant a soldier who has lost both arms and legs and therefore must be carried in a basket.
At any rate a basket case is a person who’s become completely helpless. Do not use it, though, as it sounds so offensive. Indeed, because of this, the term is now more often used on organizations rather than on persons.
As it is in our case, Thatcherism saving Great Britain from becoming a great basket case.
In other words, hopelessly helpless.
Alright, here are more media examples of this phrase:
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