The Karen Quinlan case

*** The Karen Quinlan case comes to us from the year 1976. It is this case – and others like it – that certified as legal the letting die option (see page one of my intro to euthanasia commentary). As described on page 314, for reasons still not fully understood, Karen fell into a persistent vegetative state (PVS; see page two of my intro to euthanasia commentary. She wasn’t “brain dead”). “At the age of 22, she lies in a debilitated and allegedly moribund state at Saint Clare’s Hospital in Denville, New Jersey.” Her father – Joseph Quinlan – has gone to court requesting that he be given the authorization to disconnect Karen’s respirator that supposedly was sustaining her. Her medical condition is described in “The Factual Base” on page 314.
*** It’s amazing how quickly one can go downhill physically if not active. (Read page 315, bottom of first column: “Karen is described…”).
*** Joseph Quinlan won the case, and was appointed his daughter’s legal guardian – on the same legal basis as was offered in the Roe ruling. In both these cases the ultimate legal appeal was to the right of personal privacy. “… this [privacy] right is broad enough to encompass a patient’s decision to decline medical treatment under certain circumstances, in much the same way as it is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision to terminate pregnancy under certain conditions.” (page 316). Of course Karen herself couldn’t make the request for a termination of life support; but as her legal representative, her father could.
*** And obviously the court had to be guided by medical considerations (read page 317, middle of second column – “The evidence in this case…”).
*** One interesting aspect of this tragic case was that when the machine was turned off, Karen against all expectations continued to breath on her own – and this went on for years. Imagine what a nightmare all this was for her family!
*** Note again that this case did not entail a justification of euthanasia, but rather the letting die option. Sometimes in letting die situations the patient doesn’t die, at which point we don’t kill him!