Dystonia is a disease that most of the Marvis family suffered from. Not only this, but mother Stephanie Marvis also was a single mother working hard to finance her four person family. Stephanie and her son David especially had symptoms of dystonia, which forced Stephanie to frequently take her son to the hospital. After much research, Stephanie found the Stanford Hospital's Dr. Fields, who helped implant a device that would halt some of the dystonia symptoms. When the device breaks, David suffers for many months because Stephanie doesn't feel it is necessary to go to the Stanford Hospital. However, when they finally reach the hospital, Stephanie becomes very combative of her situation, defending her choice to not uproot David earlier. The doctors and hospital staff must determine how to communicate with her, while arguing amongst themselves about the appropriate way to address the situation.

This case uses two vignettes to illustrate ethical questions that may occur at hospitals. In the first, 89-year old widow Theresa Addison is faced with the challenge of finding a facility that will care for her 47 year old son on a long term basis. Her son had been born with cerebral palsy, and facilities had deemed his situation futile. In the second vignette, hospital staff missed a key indicator during a newborn's first baby wellness check, resulting in considerable brain necrosis.