I've not heard of that. I had not described pruning them but every year you are supposed to prune off the floricanes.

That said... I don't do that, the wind and snow will knock the dead canes down after a few additional years. I'm kinda lazy that way. Some of mine have been in 15 years now with no pruning.

If I ran into that situation your parents ran into I'd mow them to the ground to rejuvenate them.