Rennie v. Klein’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 federal appellate · 2 district · 9 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Many physicians, nurses, guardians, and family members who resent the patient’s behavior and are threatened by potential acts of violence fail to distinguish between manifestations of illness and reactions to frustrations. Hence, drugs are prescribed to solve all types of management problems, and failure to achieve the desired results causes an escalation of dosage, changes of drugs, and polypharmacy. It is often reported that patients refuse to ingest their pills or that relatives fail to supervise the proper administration of medicines. Less publicized is the patient’s dependence on drugs. The medical staff gains a feeling of accomplishment from the patient’s adherence to a prescribed regime, while the nursing personnel and relatives, who are in more direct contact with the patient, derive a spurious feeling of security when the doctor’s orders are carried out. Thus, the prescribing of drugs has in many cases become a ritual in which patients, family members, and physicians participate. * * [Njeuroleptics are often used for solving psychological, social, administrative, and other nonmedical problems.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 506 F. Supp. 915 - Davis v. Hubbard

2. “The court has attempted to closely tailor its order in this case to the clear violations of privacy and due process engendered by the policies of defendants. The order is designed to interfere with hospital operation as little as possible while still guaranteeing a realistic opportunity for patients to exercise their qualified right to refuse treatment. The court has also tried to include in its decree those ideas discussed by defendants themselves, but never fully implemented, which, when put into full effect, would satisfy constitutional requirements.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 481 F. Supp. 552 - Rennie v. Klein

3. “institutional pressures ... make it impossible for anyone in the medical director's position to have sufficient independence, much less the appearance of fairness which due process required.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rennie v. Klein