Home > Great American Court Cases > In the Matter of Quinlan

Legal Citation: 355 A.2d 647 (1975)

Plaintiff
Joseph T. Quinlan

Defendant
St. Clare's Hospital

Plaintiff's Claim
That doctors at St. Clare's Hospital should obey Mr. Quinlan's instructions to disconnect his comatose daughter from her respirator and allow her to die.

Chief Lawyers for Plaintiff
Paul W. Armstrong, James Crowley

Chief Defense Lawyers
Ralph Porzio (for Karen Quinlan's physicians), Theodore Einhorn (for the hospital), New Jersey State Attorney General William F. Hyland, Morris County Prosecutor Donald G. Collester, Jr.

Judge
Robert Muir, Jr.

Place
Morristown, New Jersey

Date of Decision
10 November 1975

Decision
Denied Mr. Quinlan the right to authorize termination of "life-assisting apparatus" and granted Karen Quinlan's physicians the right to continue...