Into the Hands of the Lord At Last: Karen Ann Quinlan: 1954-1985

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The judge ruled against the Quinlans, but when they appealed to the state supreme court, it granted their plea. In a landmark decision based on the right to privacy, it ruled that "no compelling interest of the state could compel Karen to endure the unendurable." The Quinlans thought their ordeal was nearly over. When the respirator was finally turned off, however, Karen remained alive, year after year.

The New Jersey landmark was not binding in other states, of course, and laws on the right to die remain a confused patchwork. Courts have generally but not uniformly ruled that a competent patient has a right to refuse medical treatment (34 states and the District of Columbia recognize "living wills" that forbid extreme treatments). The incompetent and comatose present complex problems. If doctors and families agree to withhold treatment, doctors often quietly practice what they call "judicious neglect," but disagreements still end noisily in court.

In the matter of Karen Ann Quinlan, the parents' petition has finally been granted. After she succumbed to pneumonia last week, held in the arms of her weeping mother, Joseph Quinlan said, "She died with dignity."