Karen Ann Quinlan

Karen Ann Quinlan was a 21-year-old American woman who fell into a coma in 1974 and was later declared to be in a "persistent vegetative state". After months on a ventilator, her parents requested its removal, but doctors refused. The case went to court, and the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Quinlan's right to privacy included the right to be removed from the ventilator. This landmark decision drew significant attention to end-of-life issues and the relationship between medical ethics and the law. Although the ventilator was removed, Quinlan continued to breathe on her own and lived for nearly 10 years, eventually dying of pneumonia.123