Atkinson v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
804 F.2d 561 · 1986
Citation profile
19 federal appellate · 3 district ·
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 28 U.S.C. § 2674
Relies on Feres v. United States · Chappell v. Wallace · Stern v. Board of Levee Commissioners · Gilligan v. Morgan · United States v. Yellow Cab Co.
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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Making this inquiry, we find that the Feres doctrine does not bar Atkinson’s claim. We first note that pregnant servicewomen did not serve on active duty in 1950 when Feres was decided. Thus, the Supreme Court, in barring the two malpractice claims involved in Feres, could not have had in mind the unique facts involved in Atkinson’s claim. Confronting this novel situation, we fail to see how Atkinson’s suit for negligent care administered in a non-field military hospital incident to her pregnancy can possibly undermine “the need for unhesitating and decisive action by military officers and equally disciplined responses by enlisted personnel____” Chappell v. Wallace, 462 U.S. 296, 304 , 103 S.Ct. 2362, 2367 , 76 L.Ed.2d 586 (1983). At the time Atkinson sought treatment, she was “not subject in any real way to the compulsion of military orders or performing any sort of military mission.” Johnson v. United States, 704 F.2d at 1431, 1439 (9th Cir.1983). No command relationship exists between Atkinson and her attending physician. No military considerations govern the treatment in a non-field hospital of a woman who seeks to have a healthy baby. No military discipline applies to the care a conscientious physician will provide in this situation. Thus, in seeking treatment for complications of her pregnancy, Atkinson “was subject to military discipline only in the very remotest sense.” Id. at 1440 . Cf. United States v. Lee, 400 F.2d 558, 564 (9th Cir.1968) (“The necessity of maintai”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.