ABSTRACT
The difficult facts presented in In re Quinlan, 70 N.J. 10, 355 A.2d 647, ignited a firestorm of controversy among the public and the medical community about an individual's right to die. Karen Ann Quinlan collapsed just sixteen days past her twenty-first birthday on April 15, 1975, and slipped into a coma. The New Jersey Supreme Court, relying primarily on the constitutional right to privacy first established in Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 US 479, and on the state constitution, reversed the lower court and granted the Quinlans' request. Beginning with California, all states enacted laws permitting the execution of living wills or durable powers of attorney for health purposes that would advise physicians and family members of a person's wishes regarding the artificial maintenance of life and authorizing them to take the appropriate steps to meet those wishes.
