title: A cycle of terms implicit in the idea of medicine: Karen Ann Quinlan as a rhetorical icon and the transvaluation of the ethics of euthanasia.
abstract: In this article, I examine competing characterizations of Karen Ann Quinlan's life and the role these characterizations played in shaping public attitudes toward euthanasia and medicine in America. I discuss the reasons Quinlan's coma brought forth radically contrasted narratives about who she was by applying Burke's (1961) cycle of terms implicit in the idea of order. I compare the manner in which traditional life-sanctity advocates spoke about her with the narratives and counternarratives offered by the family and the social innovators who would challenge those traditionalist assumptions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, University of Dayton, OH 45469, USA. doctorwadekenny@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Robert Wade
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Kenny
mesh_terms: D001293:Attitude to Death; D003128:Coma / Q000628:therapy; D003657:Decision Making; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005066:Euthanasia, Passive / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D033262:Narration; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000628:therapy*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011639:Public Opinion; D012297:Right to Die / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States