Mr. L was a mentally retarded person who was incapable of consenting to medical treatment. From the age of 13, he had been a resident at the Bournewood Hospital which was governed by the appellant, NHS Trust. Mr. L was discharged from the hospital on a trial basis into the community with paid carers, though …Read more

A 36 weeks-pregnant woman, referred to as “MS”, sought care as a new patient at a local National Health Service (NHS) practice on 25th April 1996. She previously had not sought any ante-natal care. She was quickly diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a condition threatening the life and health of both her and her baby. She rejected …Read more

The case combined six writs of tutela that were filed against the Institute of Social Security (ISS) into one record. The Plaintiffs were persons living with HIV who had not been able to obtain protease inhibitors to treat their HIV. The protease inhibitors sought by the Plaintiffs were antiretrovirals used in the treatment of HIV …Read more

A health authority applied for a High Court declaration that it would be lawful to undertake an emergency caesarean operation on MB whose foetus was found to be in the breech position after MB agreed to have the operation theoretically but refused in practice due to her fear of needles. The declaration was granted, and …Read more

Mr. and Mrs. Blood were married and attempting to have a family. Unfortunately, Mr. Blood contracted meningitis and went into a coma prior to any conception, so Mrs. Blood requested that doctors take sperm by electro-ejaculation while Mr. Blood was in the coma. The doctors took two different samples, and Mr. Blood passed away soon …Read more

Respondents, physicians operating in New York and gravelly-ill patients (who had died prior to the appeal), asserted that, though it was consistent with the standards of medical practice to “prescribe lethal medication for ‘mentally competent, terminally ill patients’ who are suffering great pain and desire a doctor’s help in taking their own lives, they [were] …Read more

Under the Wash. Rev. Code §9A36.060 (1) it was a crime to cause or aid another person to commit suicide. In 1996, a lower court struck down this law on the basis it violated an individual’s constitutionally protected right to choose the time and manner of death. The petitioners, the State of Washington and its …Read more

In 1977, Julie Breen had a bilateral augmentation mammoplasty which involved the insertion of a silicone implant in each of her breasts. She later developed a complication in the way of bilateral breast capsules. In 1978, she sought the opinion of Dr. Cholmondeley Williams, who had not performed the original procedure. Dr. Williams advised Breen …Read more

While a prisoner in custody of the defendant, the plaintiff was informed by the prison nurse in the presence of other prisoners that he was to undergo a blood test for HIV and that he had the right to refuse such test. This information was repeated to the plaintiff in a closed consulting room, but …Read more

Mr. Bland was in the care of the health authority, and had been in a persistent vegetative state for three and a half years due to a severe crushed chest injury, which had caused devastating and permanent damage to the higher functions of his brain. He was being fed artificially by a tube inserted through …Read more