Irving Independent School District v. Tatro et Ux., Individually and As Next Friends of Tatro, a Minor (468 U.S. 883)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided July 5, 1984 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 468 U.S. 883 · 104 S. Ct. 3371
- Decided
- July 5, 1984
- Term
- October Term 1983
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Burger
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
CHIEF Justice Burger delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari to determine whether the Education of the Handicapped Act or the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires a school district to provide a handicapped child with clean intermittent catheterization during school hours. I Amber Tatro is an 8-year-old girl born with a defect known as spina bifida. As a result, she suffers from orthopedic and speech impairments and a neurogenic bladder, which prevents her from emptying her bladder voluntarily. Consequently, she must be catheterized every three or four hours to avoid injury to her kidneys. In accordance with accepted medical practice, clean intermittent catheterization (CIC), a procedure involving the insertion of a catheter into the urethra to drain the bladder, has been prescribed. The procedure is a simple one that may be performed in a few minutes by a layperson with less than an hour’s training. Amber’s parents, babysitter, and teenage brother are all qualified to administer CIC, and Amber soon will be able to perform this procedure herself. In 1979 petitioner Irving Independent School District agreed to provide special education for Amber, who was then three and one-half years old. In consultation with her parents, who are respondents here, petitioner developed an individualized education program for Amber under the requirements of the Education of the…
Excerpt of a 24,451-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.