Sentenced to Life

For eleven days, Superior Court Judge Robert Muir Jr. of Morris County, N.J., pondered the painful, unprecedented legal problem: Did the anguished parents of 21-year-old Karen Anne Quinlan have the right to switch off the respirator that had kept her alive since she fell into a deep coma in April? Last week Muir announced his decision. In a 44-page ruling, he noted sadly that he had to discount "the compassion, empathy, sympathy" he felt toward the Quinlan family. Both "judicial conscience and morality," he went on, told him that Karen's fate was being handled properly by "the treating physician." Since her doctor, Robert J. Morse, has refused to discontinue use of the respirator, the judge's decision meant that at least for now, Karen must live.

Doctors who testified at the trial agreed that Karen is in a "persistent vegetative state" and that her chances of recovery are remote. Even so, tests show slight brain activity, which means, said the judge, Karen is "not brain dead by present known medical criteria." Under common law, he went on, neither "the fact that the victim is on the threshold of death" nor "humanitarian motives" can justify taking life. Dismissing as mere "semantics" such questions as whether pulling the plug would be an act of commission or omission, he ruled that the move "would result in the taking of the life of Karen Quinlan when the law of the state indicates that ... would be a homicide."

Weak Case. The judge rejected all of the arguments raised by Joseph Quinlan's lawyer. Karen's reported past statements that she would not want to have her life artificially prolonged were dismissed as "too theoretical." The constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment did not apply, Muir said, because medical treatment "where its goal is the sustenance of life is not something degrading, arbitrarily inflicted, unacceptable to contemporary society or unnecessary." As for the right of privacy, it had to be subordinate in this case to "the state's interest in preservation of life." Muir noted that a few other courts had allowed patients the right to die, but only when death was chosen knowingly by the dying person. Said he: "There is no constitutional right to die that can be asserted by a parent for his incompetent adult child."

Critics who argue that the decision is the equivalent of a life sentence for Karen felt the judge was far too cautious in dealing with the broad philosophical issues involved in the case. But most legal experts agreed that Muir had to rule as he did because of the weakness of the case presented by Joseph Quinlan's lawyer.

The Quinlans have until the end of December to decide whether to appeal. Meanwhile, Judge Muir has relieved them of the responsibility of giving "counsel, advice and concurrence" on decisions about Karen's treatment; that power has been given to Karen's court-appointed attorney, Daniel Coburn, who has been named her guardian.

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