Karen Ann Quinlan (March 29 1954 - June 11 1985) was an important figure in the history of the right to die debate in United States. When she was 21, Quinlan fell unconscious after coming home from a party, and lapsed into a persistent vegetative state. After she was kept alive on a ventilator for several months without improvement, her parents requested the hospital to discontinue active care and allow her to die. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Karen Ann Quinlan. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Ann_Quinlan