I think that they had a “pick your poison” situation. Either end the project and get more out of another while losing the progress made with these half done projects or take the risk to hire more people and have it pay off later. If they didn’t have the resources to continue the project then would they have the resources to hire more employees? I would need more information to answer your question thoroughly. What are their reasons for making your project a lower priority than others? Are all foot/ankle projects lower than hip and knee projects? Based off of what you said I think that if it could be shown that taking the hit and hiring more employees for the foot and ankle projects would pay off in the long run then I would keep the project going. If in the long run the hip and knee projects would still bring in more money than I think the company is going to go with whats more profitable.