The Court considered three cases together that involved individuals sentenced to death. One case involved a black man who was convicted of murdering a homeowner during an attempted burglary. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital after arrest and diagnosed as suffering from mild to moderate mental impairments with psychotic episodes, but was later found …Read more

Petitioner Rouse brought this habeas corpus action alleging that he had been unlawfully committed to a hospital for the mentally ill because he had not voluntarily and knowingly introduced the insanity defense or authorized his attorney to do so during his trial on a misdemeanor charge of carrying a weapon without a license. When he …Read more

In 1962, Appellant Rouse was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital pursuant to D.C. Code § 24-301 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity of carrying a dangerous weapon, a misdemeanor for which the maximum imprisonment was one year. Rouse challenged his commitment on grounds of habeas corpus; he had been confined for …Read more

The Appellants, who had opened a birth control clinic, were convicted under the General Statutes of Connecticut of 1958 (the Act) as accessories in crime for providing information and medical advice on contraception and prescribing contraceptives to married individuals. The Act criminalized the use of “any drug, medicinal article or instrument” by any person “for …Read more

Hugo Tunkl filed suit to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have resulted from the negligence of two physicians at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, a non profit charitable institution. Tunkl died after suit was brought, and his wife was substituted as plaintiff. Tunkl was admitted to the UCLA Medical Center …Read more

Petitioner, Lynch, was committed to the District of Columbia General Hospital under D.C. Code § 24-301(a) for a mental examination to determine his competence to stand trial. Petitioner faced charges related to drawing and negotiating checks ($50 each) with the knowledge of insufficient funds and entered a plea of not guilty in the Municipal Court. …Read more

Plaintiff, Darius M. Manlove, as administrator, brought suit against defendant, Wilmington General Hospital, a private hospital, to recover damages for the wrongful death of his infant, Darien E. Manlove, who was refused treatment at the emergency ward of the hospital.  On January 4, 1959, four month old Darien E. Manlove developed diarrhea and a fever. …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

Plaintiff brought action for malpractice against defendant physicians at the “Budge Clinic,” for (1) negligently treating him and discharging him and (2) refusing to treat and abandoning him when he was in immediate need of medical treatment. On March 11, 1935 plaintiff went to Budge Memorial Hospital to seek treatment for an infected hand. Defendant …Read more

Appellant George D. Hurley, as administrator, sued Appellee George W. Eddingfield, a licensed and practicing family physician, for $10,000 in damages for wrongfully causing the death of his intestate. Appellee had been the decedent’s family physician. Decedent became dangerously ill, and requested appellee’s service. A messenger informed appellee of decedent’s severe illness, gave him a …Read more