09 Jul (Healthcare Ethics) – M3 Written Assignment: Comparative Case Analysis, Cruzan & Schiavo

For this assignment, you are being asked to write a comparative case analysis of the Nancy Cruzan case, described on page 264 of the Tong text, which was the first “right to die” case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. As part of your analysis, you will compare and contrast the Cruzan case with the Terri Schiavo case, described on page 267 of Tong (2007).  

This is an undated family photo of Nancy Cruzan. In 1990, the parents of Nancy Cruzan went to the U.S. Supreme Court in the climax of their fight to let their daughter die. She was 25 when she was thrown from her car in an accident in Missouri and suffered brain damage. The high court’s decision provided a path for Cruzan’s parents to prove her desire not to live in a “vegetative state.” A state court agreed with their argument; she died a few weeks after life support was removed. Photo Credit:  AP Archive

Terri Schiavo, right, gets a kiss from her mother, Mary Schindler, in this Aug. 11, 2001, image taken a from videotape and released by the Schindler family on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003, in Pinellas Park, Fla. Schiavo has been in a vegetative state for 13 years following a heart attack. Florida’s Legislature has intervened in Terri Schiavo’s life once already. In a special session last year, lawmakers gave the governor the power to keep the brain damaged woman alive. Photo Credit: /Schindler Family Video

I am asking you to review a real-life event centered in an issue faced by society. This case study assignment is intended to test your understanding of important concepts and discover how to sharpen your intellectual skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, critical thinking and application. By analyzing this real case, you get to apply the complex ethical issues in a controlled setting. 

Please remember that case studies are for refining your knowledge and developing analytical skills; they are not intended to provide a forum for personal opinion or judgment. The primary purpose of these assignments is to improve your ability to identify issues and offer practical analysis and insight. 

Comparative Case Analysis Instructions

This written assignment should be around eight  pages in length, and include references with appropriate citations in APA format. Your comparative case analysis paper must include these elements:

I.  Introduction

II. Comparative Analysis

A. Compare/Contrast the Practical Details of each case:

i. Identify the Who, What, When, Where and Why of each case (in brief) 

B. Compare/Contrast the legal and ethical details of each Case:

i. Describe the issue or issues that were before the Court;

ii. Provide the rule or test that the Court applied in resolving each case;

iii. Present the facts that the Court found legally significant;

iv. Identify the Court’s reasoning and ruling on the case, and

v. Evaluate the public response to each case and the rulings.

III. Summary/Conclusion –  Highlight the critical points of your analysis and summarize the importance of these two cases in the context of healthcare issues.

How to Find Scholarly External Resources for a thorough Analysis

For this assignment, you will need to utilize external resources besides your textbook in order to complete a thorough analysis. I recommend that you start your search for resources on each case with:

•  
• The  – this is a good source for case law
• – type in the case you want to search for articles on such as “Cruzan” and up will pop journal articles, etc.
•  – note, that you may rely on both scholarly (academic) and popular resources to support your research, but any popular resources used must be reputable.