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What happened in the Karen Ann Quinlan case?

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Marble portrait bust of Hippocrates atop a tall rectangular base inscribed with an epigram in Greek, displayed against a black background. — Bioethics A Roman bust of Hippocrates, copied from a Greek original, c. 3rd century bce; in the collection of the Antichità di Ostia, Italy.

The case of Karen Ann Quinlan is a landmark in bioethics and health law, centering on the right of a patient to refuse life-sustaining treatment.12

In 1975, 21-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan fell into an irreversible coma and was diagnosed as being in a "persistent vegetative state." Her parents requested that physicians remove her mechanical ventilator, but the doctors refused, citing medical ethics and the fear of potential legal liability.23

When the case reached the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1976, the court ruled that an individual’s right to privacy included the right to refuse invasive medical treatment. The court determined that Quinlan’s parents could exercise this right on her behalf. To protect physicians from civil or criminal prosecution, the court decreed that if a hospital’s ethics committee confirmed the prognosis, the ventilator could be removed.23

Although the ventilator was removed, Quinlan continued to breathe on her own and survived in a coma for nearly 10 years before dying of pneumonia. The case established a critical precedent for patient autonomy and the use of hospital ethics committees.2