Editing Karen Ann Quinlan (section)

==In popular culture==
The Quinlans published two books about the case: ''Karen Ann: The Quinlans Tell Their Story'' (1977)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Quinlan |first1=Joseph |last2=Quinlan |first2=Julia |last3=Battelle |first3=Phyllis |title=Karen Ann: the Quinlans Tell Their Story |year=1977 |publisher=Doubleday |location=Garden City, NY |isbn=978-0-385-12666-3 |oclc=3259340}}</ref> and ''My Joy, My Sorrow: Karen Ann's Mother Remembers'' (2005).<ref>{{cite book |last=Quinlan |first=Julia |title=My Joy, My Sorrow: Karen Ann's Mother Remembers |year=2005 |publisher=St. Anthony Messenger Press |location=Cincinnati, Ohio |isbn=978-0-86716-663-7 |oclc=58595022 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/myjoymysorrow00juli }}</ref>

In 1976, the band Starz included on their [[eponymous]] album a song called "Pull the Plug" that paralleled Quinlan's story.

The 1977 TV movie ''[[In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan]]'' was made about the Quinlan case, with [[Piper Laurie]] and [[Brian Keith]] playing Quinlan's parents.

The title character of [[Douglas Coupland]]'s novel ''[[Girlfriend in a Coma (novel)|Girlfriend in a Coma]]''<ref>{{cite book |last=Coupland |first=Douglas |title=Girlfriend in a Coma |year=1998 |publisher=HarperCollins  |location=Toronto|isbn=978-0-00-224396-4 |oclc=37983572}}</ref> is Karen Ann McNeil. She collapses after a party where she has taken Valium as well as some alcohol. Like Quinlan, she has deliberately stopped eating in order to fit into an outfit (in this case, a bikini). For these reasons (and the frequent nostalgic references to events from the 1970s in Coupland's works), the character is thought to be based on Quinlan.

[[Donna Levin]]’s novel ''Extraordinary Means'' is a literary fantasy in which a young woman, although diagnosed as being in an irreversible coma (also brought on by an accidental combination of drugs and alcohol), is able to observe her family members debate over whether or not to withdraw her life support.