16 March 2007

First, Kill The Lawyers

I'm continually amazed by this sort of thing.
What sort of person considers bringing such a lawsuit?
Wonder why your health care costs are going through the roof?
Part of your healthcare cost is EMS companies having to defend themselves against frivolous lawsuits!

Hat tip to Kevin, M.D.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Few thoughts:
-Number one, you don't wear your seatbelt, you get what you deserve. Sorry.
-Two, what on earth is so hard to understand about the fact that helicopters don't fly well loaded over gross? There have been more than a few accidents where medevac crews took risks that in retrospect killed them. These guys didn't...and they get sued.
-Three, if what they say is true about the ambulance having a history of breakdowns and not being demonstrably reliable, they probably have a case. Operating a vehicle you know isn't very reliable as an ambulance is pretty obviously negligent.

The thing that annoys me about this story most is that she wasn't wearing a seatbelt and now others are jeopardized for her idiocy. IMO, if you aren't taking simple precautions proven to protect you, you don't get to argue over other's negligence; ever. Actually, that should go for weighing 400lbs and expecting the same services as everyone else as well.

Anonymous said...

My thoughts on the matter:
It's a conscious action to not wear your seatbelt. So, it's no one's fault but your own if an accident happens and you're thrown from your vehicle.
People need to take responsibility for themselves and not blame others for their lapses in judgement.
Seatbelts were put in vehicles for a reason. I hope this lawsuit gets thrown out of court for stupidity but I'm afraid that it won't.

Oshawapilot said...

If they had taken the patient and tried to fly back over gross, only to crash enroute I can immagine the result.

- The patients families would sue the medivac company because, hey, it's not their fault it crashed..right?

- The family of the pilots would sue the helicopter manufacturer for not installing something that "automatically protected" against over gross takeoffs.

- The Medivac company would sue the estate of the pilots for the cost of the helicopter and damage to properties it crashed into because of their "poor decisions".

- The people on the ground who were killed/injured would sue someone.

- The people nearby the crash site who were not even directly involved would find someone to sue for "stress and anxiety" as a result of having to deal with looking upon the crash scene.

- Misguided people in the neighborhood would push for a TFR to avoid any "flying deathtraps" from ever traveling over their houses ever again.

It goes on and on. Unfortunately the US is more then a bit of a litigious society and it shines in situations like this.

(Some exaggeration perhaps...but you get the idea.. :-) )