What are the options open to someone faced with an unwanted pregnancy?

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

Purpose: Students will identify and comprehend the facts, issues,
and arguments of a real case and
evaluate the court’s decision and reasoning.

Paper: Students will develop a 4-page paper based on the
guidelines below. APA format will be utilized to design title page, references,
and body of paper, including any in text references.

Case
studies help students to analyze problem
situations and reach their own conclusions concerning the outcome. Case studies
can take many forms: legal cases based on written opinions of courts;
hypothetical situations involving some conflict or dilemma; and real-life
situations drawn from the media, books, etc.

Whatever the source of the case, it
usually includes the following elements:
A description of the facts
A statement of the issue/problem posed by the case,
otherwise a reference to the arguments
or various positions
A decision or
a result on the issue presented
An explanation of the reasoning behind the decision
Procedure
Select the Case: Select a case that is of interest to you that is
related to health care. The case must be real and based on written opinions
of a court.

Review of Facts: The facts of the case serve as the basis for your
paper. Therefore, carefully reviewing and clarifying all of the facts
should start the inquiry process. Ask yourself the following questions:

What happened in this case?
Who were the parties?
What facts were important? Unimportant?
Was any significant information missing?
Why did the people involved act the way they did?

Frame the Issue: Pinpoint and analyze the issues/problems presented by
the case. The legal issue is the
question of law on which resolution of the case turns. An issue should be
posed in the form of a question (what is debatable… i.e. Should the
morning-after pill be made available OTC?) While most cases revolve around
a legal issue, you should also consider issues of public policy, values in
conflict, and practical reality.

For example, a case study involving abortion might involve
the following issues:
·
Legal Issue:
Is abortion legal? If so, under what circumstances?
·
Public Policy:
Should abortion be legal? Why or why not?
·
Values in Conflict:
Which value is more important? A woman’s right to privacy or an unborn
child’s
right to life? Why?
·
Practical:
What are the options open to someone faced with an unwanted pregnancy? Where
can someone in this situation go for help and advice?

Analyze the Arguments: Once you have identified the issues, interpret the
arguments that were made for and against each of the various points of
view in the case. When discussing the arguments, students should consider
the following:
·
What were the arguments in favor of
and against each point of view?
·
Which arguments were most
persuasive? Least persuasive? Why?
·
Were there, or are there any
plausible alternatives?

Decision: A decision is the answer to the issue(s) or questions(s)
posed by the case. In evaluating the decision, comment on the following:
·
Do you agree or disagree with the
decision? Or, do you think the decision was the best one made?
·
What were the consequences and/or
potential consequences of the decision for the parties?
For society?
·
What law(s) does the court apply to
the case?
·
What was the court’s reasoning in
this case? How does it relate the rule of law to the facts?

Last Completed Projects