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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
The sociolegal controversy over an individual's right to die is one that has attempted to re-define death and to question when it actually occurs (i.e., brain death or heart death ?). This 2 page essay looks at the infamous Karen Quinlan case in which the Supreme Court granted Ms. Quinlan's family the right to let her die (ruling that "No compelling interest of the state could compel her to endure the unendurable") -- but she continued to live on anyway after being removed from life-sustaining medical equipment. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Page Count:
2 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Quinlan.doc
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party April 15, 1975. Although the cause was never established, party guests said she had several gin and tonics on top of a mild tranquilizer. Weeks passed. Her condition
did not improve, and every breath the ventilator forced into her lungs was clearly uncomfortable. The Quinlans decided to take her off the machine and to end her pain. But
the doctors at St. Clares Hospital in Denville refused to comply. The Quinlans went to court and "our privacy was totally erased after that," Julia Quinlan said.
On March 31, 1976, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously. "No compelling interest of the state could compel Karen to endure the unendurable, only to vegetate a few
measurable months with no realistic possibility of returning to any semblance of cognitive or sapient state," then-Chief Justice Richard Hughes wrote. Karen was removed from her
respirator in May 1976. When she did not die as expected, she was moved to a nursing home. The case opened widespread debate about whether it was always in
a patients best interests to keep them alive artificially. The next year, California passed a law recognizing the legality of living wills--advance directives telling doctors how an individual wants
to be treated when deemed incompetent or unable to communicate. Today, all states have laws governing living wills or granting durable power of attorney, which
allows a person to designate another to make life-and-death decisions in the event of incompetence. The Quinlan case was a direct outgrowth of a revolution in life-sustaining technology in the
1950s and 60s. Patients no longer died simply at home; many lingered for weeks or months, kept alive by machines. This case would help spawn the controversy over ones
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