Quill was the lead plaintiff in a case that eventually reached the Supreme Court of the United States in 1997, Vacco v. Quill, in which the Court decided that a state law against physician-assisted suicide was constitutional.
The report describes how Patricia, a long-time patient of Quill's with an extensive medical history including vaginal cancer, alcoholism and other issues was diagnosed with leukemia but refused chemotherapy.
She shortly thereafter decided that she wanted to kill herself rather than have a "lingering death" which doctors had told her may be a matter of weeks or months away.
Quill describes in the article how he referred her to the Hemlock Society and a week later she requested barbiturates to help with "insomnia".
[7] Quill has subsequently been active in arguing for legalization of physician-assisted suicide, including during the controversial trials of Jack Kevorkian,[8] and regarding the case of Terri Schiavo.