Assignment Content

A woman enters the emergency room with stomach pain. She undergoes a CT scan and is diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a weakening in the wall of the aorta which causes it to stretch and bulge (this is very similar to what led to John Ritter's death). The physicians inform her that the only way to fix the problem is surgically, and that the chances of survival are about 50/50. They also inform her that time is of the essence, and that should the aneurysm burst, she would be dead in a few short minutes. The woman is an erotic dancer; she worries that the surgery will leave a scar that will negatively affect her work; therefore, she refuses any surgical treatment. Even after much pressuring from the physicians, she adamantly refuses surgery. Feeling that the woman is not in her correct state of mind and knowing that time is of the essence, the surgeons decide to perform the procedure without consent. They anesthetize her and surgically repair the aneurysm. She survives, and sues the hospital for millions of dollars.

Case Briefing Template

Name of the Case, (not applicable for this exercise) Court (Date) (not applicable for this exercise)

Parties: Plaintiff: Any relevant qualities or characteristics or damage suffered

Defendant: Same as above, only here you're describing the defendant.

Procedural Here you want to explain what happened before the case got to this History: court and how it ended up here. For example, you want to know:

(If case is on Appeal) (1) Who was suing whom in the court below? (2) For what? (3) How did the trial court rule? (4) Who is appealing? (5) On what grounds?

(6) For what relief?

Facts: What happened in the case? Here you want to include the relevant factsthose facts that mattered in reaching the result. You do not need to include irrelevant facts. For instance, if it was a sunny day when the incident at issue occurred, but the weather did not matter in the case, you wouldn't need to include the fact that it was sunny. However, if you were briefing a case about a car accident and weather was a factor in determining negligence, you would include this fact here.

Issue: (Should be one) The question the court is deciding.

Holding/Rule:	What rule of law is formulated by this case? What did the court decide? This should respond directly to the issue raised in the case.
Reasoning:	(What you think the court would rule and why)
	What relevant principles of law did the court rely on in making its decision. How did do you apply the facts to the law. Were there policy considerations? Teleological or deontological?