Armstrong Reflects on How Quinlan Case Shaped NJ End-of-Life Choice
June 15, 2025
Judge Paul Armstrong was a newly graduated attorney when he was approached by Joe Quinlan, father of Karen Ann Quinlan, in 1975 to help remove life-sustaining measures. Judge Armstrong, who retired from the bench in 2015, would later become a pioneer of patients’ rights as a member of the New Jersey Superior Court. He remains a board member on the Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice in Newton, NJ, and has served as a Senior Health Administration Fellow and Judge in Residence at the Bloustein School since 2017.
Americans cherish their freedoms — the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ingrained in the Declaration of Independence.
But well into the 20th century, one right we now consider fundamental was still unrecognized: the right to die, to determine our own fate when it comes to modern medical interventions that can keep the body alive long after the conscious mind ceases to function.
For that, we have one New Jersey family to thank: the parents and siblings of Karen Ann Quinlan, whose faith carried them through the arduous process of turning their tragedy into a legal victory that changed the way Americans approach the end of life. They were aided by a collection of attorneys and judges on both sides of the life-or-death case who chose to work “as adversaries but not enemies.”
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