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Act or Omission
The cases thus far have provided a sharp contrast. If a defendant is charged with acting to cause a harm, one set of rules applies; if he is charged with causing a harm through his failure to act, a different set of rules applies. But the line between act and omission is not always so sharp. The Barber case shows how important issue framing (and creative lawyering) can be in this area. How does the court describe the cessation of life support in this case? Is that a fair (or accurate) description of what occurred?
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