And then you wonder why people don't stop to help anymore... - Granite Grok

And then you wonder why people don’t stop to help anymore…

It used to be, see someone in trouble, stop and help.  That was the American way.  That is, until the lawyers started to get involved. So, what’s the Lesson?  Think twice about helping – you may get sued.  From Overlawyered

As mentioned yesterday, California’s Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 that the state’s “Good Samaritan” law providing tort immunity for rescuers applies only to those providing medical help at an emergency scene, and not to civilians. “Although the law does not distinguish between types of emergency care, the court majority said the context shows it was meant to be limited to medical care. The law was part of a package of legislation on emergency medical services, Justice Carlos Moreno said in the majority opinion.” (SF Chronicle). Unless you’ve got medical training, then, think twice about offering to help. Docbloggers have been discussing the decision since then, with GruntDoc siding with the dissent, SymTym countering on behalf of the majority, and Throckmorton reporting that even being on the right side of the law isn’t enough to provide reassurance nowadays: “Most of my colleagues are afraid to stop at the scene of an accident and render aid for fear of being sued. The Good Samaritan Law is supposed to prevent this fear of suits but no one seems to believe that it will offer any protection.”

What’s the fall out?  Well, if well meaning individuals are scared off from helping – who is left to help?  Of course – government!  And if there are not enough to help all the events in a quick enough manner (here in rural New Hampshire,  I can think of a number of scenarios where it would be hard to respond in a timely fashion, even with motivated civil servants trying as hard as they can). 

Government just cannot be large enough to service all needs in a timely fashion all the time when the need appears. I think that if this trend continues, that of denigrating the ability of individuals and the movement towards "professionals only", the message that is sent to the general public is "don’t bother, we’ll handle it".

And people, bit by bit, may indeed stop stopping to help.  And won’t bother.  Thanks, statists legal eagles…

And stop caring.  After all, the government will care, right?

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