Career
Koochin was diagnosed with an "inoperable and incurable" brain tumor in 2004. However, the parents rejected the hospital’s definition of death. Instead, relying on traditional notions of cardiopulmonary death, they obtained a restraining order to keep Koochin on a ventilator.
Later, they removed the brain-dead child from the hospital.
Koochin"s heart ultimately stopped beating on November 19, 2004. The landmark case was the first documented instance in the United States in which parents attempted to opt out of legally accepted standards of death.