Application of the President and Directors of Georgetown College, Inc.

Application of the President and Directors of Georgetown College, Inc. case brief summary
331 F.2d 1000 (1964)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appeal from the decision of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, which denied applicant's request for permission to administer emergency blood transfusions.

CASE FACTS
After a patient refused an emergency blood transfusion for religious reasons, applicant sought permission to administer the transfusions. According to applicant's physician, the transfusion was necessary to save the patient's life.

DISCUSSION

• The court determined that the application was justiciable, and that appellate jurisdiction was appropriate because of the power of federal courts to issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions. 
• The court, citing the power of courts to order compulsory medical treatment in certain situations, the power of states to disallow a parent to abandon a child (the patient was pregnant), and the responsibility of hospitals to provide proper medical care, granted the emergency writ.

CONCLUSION
Denial of applicant's request for permission to administer emergency blood transfusions was reversed, because courts possessed the power to issue emergency writs and the circumstances of the case required judicial determination.


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