56 pages • 1 hour read
Chip JonesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Before the start of the trial, Judge Compton invoked his judicial authority to narrow the scope of the lawsuit and to reduce the number of defendants. The list of defendants was limited to the three surgeons who performed the heart transplant and the assistant medical examiner. In addition, the judge dismissed the allegation that “the transplant team committed an ‘unlawful invasion of a near relative’s rights with respect to a dead body’” (250). Such a claim was subject to a one-year statute of limitations, which had passed, and was separate from the wrongful death statutes, which applied. This ruling reduced the potential payout from $1 million to $100,000.
In his opening statement, Wilder emphasized the Virginia law defining death as the cessation of life. In contrast, Jack Russell argued that “death ‘is a question of medical fact and opinion’” (252). He noted that Bruce Tucker was unresponsive and claimed that Bruce was never the patient of the heart transplant surgeons, that they had nothing to do with his care, and in effect, that Wilder was suing the wrong doctors.
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books on U.S. History
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Class
View Collection
Common Reads: Freshman Year Reading
View Collection
Community
View Collection
Education
View Collection
Equality
View Collection
Health & Medicine
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Nation & Nationalism
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
Science & Nature
View Collection
True Crime & Legal
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection