In the Matter of Quinlan

On 10 November 1975, Judge Muir, rendered his decision. He refused permission for the removal of the respirator and appointed Daniel R. Coburn to continue acting as the guardian of Karen's "person." Joseph Quinlan was appointed guardian of his daughter's property. Rejecting the Quinlans' plea that their daughter be allowed to pass into life after death, Muir wrote that disconnecting the respirator "is not something in her best interest, in a temporal sense, and it is in a temporal sense that I must operate, whether I believe in life after death or not. The single most important temporal quality that Karen Ann Quinlan has is life. This Court will not authorize that life to be taken away from her."

On 17 November 1975, the Quinlans filed an appeal, which the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed to hear on an "accelerated schedule." On 26 January 1976, during a three-hour session, the case was argued before the seven justices of New Jersey's highest court. Their unanimous decision named Joseph Quinlan guardian and authorized him to order the removal of the respirator on 31 March 1976. Chief Justice Richard J. Hughes wrote the opinion for the court. He specifically stated that the ruling was not based on the freedom of religion argument favored by the Quinlans "[S]imply stated, the right to religious beliefs is absolute but conduct in pursuance therefore is not wholly immune from governmental restraint."

Instead, Chief Justice Hughes cited the Supreme Court's decision in the Griswold v. Connecticut birth-control case and based the decision on the "right to privacy." It was a right, he continued, that could "be exercised by her guardian under the present circumstances."

Lastly, Justice Hughes dismissed the attorney general's and the Morris County prosecutor's contention that the person removing Quinlan's respirator should be charged with homicide upon her death:

[T]he exercise of a constitutional right, such as we here find, is protected from criminal prosecution. We do not question the state's undoubted power to punish the taking of human life, but that power does not encompass individuals terminating medical treatment pursuant to their right of privacy.

Neither the hospital, Karen Quinlan's physicians, nor the state of New Jersey chose to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Quinlan's respirator was removed in May of 1976. She managed to breathe on her own and remained in a coma for ten years. She died on 11 June 1985.