March 31, 1976: The Karen Ann Quinlan Case

March 31, 1976: The Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey rules in the case of In re Quinlan, that Karen Ann Quinlan, a hospital patient in a persistent vegetative state, can be disconnected from her ventilator.

Karen had been born on March 29, 1954 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Roxbury, Morris County, New Jersey. She graduated from Morris Catholic High School in Denville, and worked several jobs, moving to a house in Byram, Sussex County, with 2 roommates.

On April 15, 1975, she attended a friend's birthday party at a local bar. Having eaten almost nothing for 2 days, as part of a crash diet, she got drunk and took a Valium pill. Her friends took her home, and discovered her not breathing. She was taken to a hospital in Newton, Sussex County, but never regained consciousness. Unresponsive, she was taken to St. Clare's Hospital in Denville, which was better able to handle her condition: A persistent vegetative state.

After doctors refused the request of her parents, Joseph and Julia Quinlan, to disconnect her ventilator, her parents filed suit to get her disconnected. They believed that her still being connected constituted extraordinary means of prolonging her life.

Interestingly, both sides used Catholic theology to make their cases: The defense, that life must be preserved at all costs; the plaintiffs, that "extraordinary measures" to preserve life are a contradiction of God's will, citing a Papal message from Pope Pius XII in 1957.

The State Supreme Court ruled in the parents' failure, and the respirator was disconnected. Karen's feeding tube was not: Her parents did not consider that to be "extraordinary measures." As a result, Karen lived on until June 11, 1985. She had been in a coma for 10 years. Her case has affected the practice of medicine and law around the world. A significant outcome of her case was the development of formal ethics committees in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.

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March 31, 1976 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns, 122-102 at the Boston Garden. This would turn out to be a preview of the NBA Finals, which would have the same result.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Buffalo Braves, 107-103 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Washington Bullets, 95-88 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. This was a rematch of the previous season's NBA Finals, with the same result.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Jazz, 110-101 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Detroit Pistons beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bulls, 102-96 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 120-109 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

There were 3 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Indiana Pacers, 116-106 at the Markets Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 111-103 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.

* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets, 117-110 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat their new rivals, the New York Islanders, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 7-3 at the Montreal Forum.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 4-4 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Black Hawks beat the Kansas City Scouts, 6-3 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the St. Louis Arena.

And there were 3 games in the WHA: 

* The Cleveland Crusaders beat the New England Whalers, 5-1 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Cincinnati Stingers, 7-2 at the Riverfront Coliseum (now the Heritage Bank Center) in Cincinnati.

* And the Winnipeg Jets beat the Toronto Toros, 5-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.