Does Consciousness End?
Enter Roe Vs Wade in 1973 introducing an attempt to define viability. Within a few months following that came the first criminal prosecution of a resident physician in Boston for aborting a viable fetus. Then along with pre-viable, and viable humans, came the issue of the post-viable. On April of 1975 Karen Quinlan entered the ICU of Newton Memorial Hospital in New Jersey. Quinlan remained (sustained by catastrophic life support) in a comatose state until her death on June 13, 1986. Despite numerous legal appeals to allow her the right to die, the courts refused essentially declaring her a viable person. Without any doubt, the age of technology versus viability had begun.
The Previable, Viable, and Post Viable
Terry Bell's Blog 
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