Law and Ethics
The type of court case depends on the state law or federal law that was allegedly violated. The federal court system, with some exceptions, hears cases involving federal matters. State court systems are independent of one another, and each system has its own rules and regulations. Generally, state courts decide cases involving matters occurring within their own state borders. Federal jurisdiction is the power of the court to hear and decide a case before it. In most common law systems, jurisdiction is conceptually divided between jurisdiction over the subject matter of a case and jurisdiction over the person of the litigants. Examples of cases over which federal courts have jurisdiction include federal crimes, federal antitrust law, bankruptcy, patents, copyrights, trademarks, suits against the United States, and areas of admiralty law (pertaining to the sea). State courts: Each state has its own court system, but the general structure is the same in all states. The bottom tier consists of local courts. The next highest tier is trial courts, followed by appellate courts, and then the state supreme court. As with the federal court system, there are also special state courts with jurisdiction in certain kind of cases.
In 2008 the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a Cook County jury’s $2.7 million verdict for institutional negligence against Loyola Medical Center in a Chicago transplant error case. The Issue in the Longnecker was whether Loyloa University Medical Center was negligent when it transplanted the decedent with a severely hypertrophy replacement heart. The harvested heart was severely diseased and was considered for transplantation only because the harvesting doctors did not examine it. Despite the diseased state of the new heart, the decedent’s heart surgeon went ahead with the new transplant. The decedent died without ever waking up from the surgical procedure. Knowing all that you do from what you have studied this semester what is your expert opinion. Was the harvesting doctors, the surgeon and/or the hospital at fault and why? Do you agree with the courts findings? What type of court case is this an example of?
