Confirm favorite deletion?
Health Law Keyed to Furrow
Burless v. West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc.
Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
Access the most important case brief elements for optimal case understanding.
*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
- Topic: Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.
- Parties: Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.
- Procedural Posture & History: Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.
- Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.: A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.
- Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises: Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
- Brief Facts: A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.
- Rule of Law: Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.
- Facts: What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case. Review the Facts of this case here:
In July 1998, Jaclyn Burless (Plaintiff) learned she was pregnant. In November 1998, Plaintiff went to West Virginia University Hospital (WVUH) for an ultrasound. Burless (Plaintiff) signed a consent form at that time that stated the faculty physicians and resident physicians in the hospital providing treatment are not employees of the hospital. When Burless (Plaintiff) delivered at WVUH in late February 1999, there were complications and her daughter, Alexis Price, had seizures and suffered a stroke. Burless (Plaintiff) claimed that the doctors and the hospital were negligent by failing to monitor her labor and delivery, and that the negligence caused her daughter severe and permanent mental, neurological, and psychological injuries. Her lawsuit said WVUH was vicariously liable based upon a theory of apparent agency between WVUH and the doctors who provided the alleged negligent care. Melony Pritt's (Plaintiff) case [consolidated by the court for review purposes] arose from a visit to the emergency department at WVUH in June 1998. At that time, Pritt (Plaintiff) was diagnosed as nine weeks pregnant, and she had a cyst on her left ovary. When Plaintiff returned later in her pregnancy to have the cyst removed, she signed an informed consent for a laparotomy and left ovarian cystectomy. The surgery was complicated when the cyst ruptured because it had not been properly contained or treated with antibiotics. Plaintiff was discharged on that date, but then returned two days later with a massive infection in her abdomen which resulted in the premature labor and delivery of her son. Plaintiff claimed her son suffered severe and permanent mental, neurological, and psychological injuries. Plaintiff then sued WVUH, claiming that injuries to herself and her son were a result of negligence by the doctors when they elected and performed an elective laparoscopic cystectomy procedure.
- Issue(s): Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.
- Holding: Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.
- Concurring / Dissenting Opinions: Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.
- Reasoning and Analysis: Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
- Policy: Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.
- Court Direction: Shares where the Court went from here for this case.