The Respondents, including a facility that provides abortions, a physician who performs abortions, and a minor woman who sought an abortion, brought suit challenging the constitutional validity of Ohio’s Amended Substitute House Bill 319, which made it a criminal offence, except in four specified circumstances, for a physician or other person to perform an abortion …Read more

John Moore underwent treatment for hairy-cell leukemia at UCLA Medical Center, owned and operated by the regents of the university. During the course of his treatment, Moore’s spleen was removed and various tissue samples were taken by his doctor. Moore’s doctor engaged with a researcher at the medical center to study these samples (which were …Read more

Kerstin H. had an operation intended to lessen pain in her hip, however after the operation she still suffered from the original ailment as well as new pain. Prior to the operation, Kerstin H. had been informed that the doctors aimed “to clean up the area around the nerve” (the doctors had also used such …Read more

Malette, a Jehovah’s Witness, sued Dr. Shulman for administering a blood transfusion contrary to her prior expressed wishes. Malette was rushed to the emergency room after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident. She was semi-conscious and bleeding profusely. One of the nurses found a card in her purse, which stated she was a devout …Read more

F was a 36 year old adult woman who suffered from a disability that left her with the mental capacity of a young child.  She had been a voluntary in-patient at a mental hospital since the age of 14, where she received treatment and enjoyed a great degree of freedom of movement. Although the facility …Read more

  The applicant, a French citizen, struggled with depression, schizophrenia and, at some points, symptoms of catatonia.  In May of 1961, the applicant, who was a primary school supply teacher, voluntarily reported to the neurological clinic at Strasbourg Hospital for observation. He expected to be in the hospital for two weeks. In June of 1961, …Read more

On November 5 1986, the Court of First Instance and Preliminary Investigations No. 10 of Malaga ordered the search of a medical clinic where criminal actions (specifically, the administration of abortions) were allegedly taking place. In so doing, information regarding the medical history of Ms. Ximena’s (the appellant) was recorded. On November 21, 1986, the …Read more

The respondent had an accident and suffered a head laceration. A police officer drove the respondent to the hospital where the doctor collected free-flowing blood for medical purposes from the respondent who was unconscious. He gave the blood to a police officer who did not have a search warrant or patient consent. The patient was …Read more

Respondents, including Pennsylvania physicians, abortion counselors and providers, brought this challenge to provisions of Pennsylvania’s Abortion Control Act 1982 (the Act). The Act imposed the following conditions on the provision of abortion services in Pennsylvania: 1.     The informed consent provision (§ 3205) required women to be informed of: The name of the physician performing the …Read more

Eve was a mentally disabled young woman suffering from a condition that made it extremely difficult for her to communicate with others. She was not capable of understanding the consequential relationship between intercourse, pregnancy and birth.  Mrs. E, her mother, was concerned that Eve might innocently become pregnant, which would mean that she, an elderly …Read more

Respondent, Lee, was charged with attempted robbery, malicious wounding, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. The Commonwealth of Virginia sought to compel Respondent to undergo a surgical procedure to remove a bullet lodged in his chest; petitioners alleged that the bullet would provide evidence of Respondent’s guilt or …Read more

The Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) issued a memorandum of guidance to local health authorities that stated that, inter alia, “consultations between doctors and patients are confidential,” even for children less than 16. The memorandum noted that while “it would be most unusual,” a doctor could advise the child regarding contraception without parental …Read more

Ms. Sidaway brought an action in negligence against Bethlem Royal Hospital and the hospital’s surgeon after she was left severely disabled from a spinal operation. Ms. Sidaway, who suffered from constant shoulder and neck pains, was advised by a surgeon employed by the hospital to have an operation on her spinal column to relieve her …Read more

The Appellant, H.L., brought this class action suit challenging a Utah law which required a physician to notify, if possible, the parents or guardian of a minor upon whom an abortion was to be performed. H.L. represented a class consisting of unmarried minor women who wished to terminate their “unwanted pregnancies” but were unable to …Read more

The parents of the 17 years old plaintiff, Claudia Graciela Saguir y Dib, filed an authorization on behalf of their daughter for her to be able to donate her kidney to her brother, who was suffering from chronic renal terminal failure. Law 21.541, art. 13, established that a person over 18 years old could donate …Read more

The Appellants challenged the constitutional validity of a Massachusetts law that required, in every instance, that the parents or guardian of a minor seeking an abortion be notified. The joined Appellants were an abortion clinic and a pregnant minor representing the class of unmarried minors in Massachusetts who had adequate capacity to give valid and …Read more

The Respondents, a licensed obstetrician and several non-profit organizations, brought suit claiming that § 5(a) of the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1974 (the Act) was unconstitutionally vague. Section 5(a) of the Act required every person who performed or induced an abortion to have made a determination, based on “experience, judgment or professional competence,” that …Read more

Plaintiff Virgil Walker filed suit against Defendant, Clovis H. Pierce, the attending obstetrician at Aiken County Hospital in South Carolina, seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief for a violation of her civil rights under the 1st, 4th, 5th 8th, 9th, 13th, and 14th amendments. Virgil Walker, an African American woman on Medicaid, went to …Read more

Petitioners brought this action against the Attorney General of Missouri, seeking to enjoin enforcement of House Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 1211 (the Act), which attempted to regulate both the abortion procedure and the circumstances surrounding such procedures. Petitioners claimed the Act violated the right to privacy under the due process clause of the …Read more

Petitioner brought a constitutional challenge to provisions of Oklahoma’s Habitual Criminal Sterilization Act of 1935 (the Act), which permitted sentences of compulsory sterilization for “habitual offenders” in crimes involving “moral turpitude.”  Pursuant to section 195 of the Act, the same sentence did not extend to white-collar crimes, defined as those “offenses arising out of the …Read more

The Petitioner, who suffered from leprosy (Hansen’s disease), was confined in the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila in conformity with §1058 of the Administrative Code, which empowered the Director of Health and his authorized agents “to cause to be apprehended, and detained, isolated, or confined, all leprous persons in the Philippine Islands.” The Petitioner brought …Read more