Download ENC 1101 Sample Social Commetary: Ludicrous Litigation

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Bobbye Stewart
Mrs. Reites
ENC 1101
29 Oct. 2007
Shameful Trend
Our current, selfish generation of Americans are in love with the blame game.
Everyone is excited to steer unwanted responsibility from themselves onto others. It has
become the contemporary way of thinking. This modern mindset is resulting in
countless, ridiculous lawsuits. It appears that lawsuits are the golden ticket to fortune
through blaming others. Lawsuits are supposed to compensate the victims of unfortunate
errors. The sad truth is lawsuits’ purpose has been unwillingly twisted from serving
deserving victims to serving invented “victims” of exaggerated, or sometimes nonexistent error. Stuart Taylor, Jr. refers to this sweep of lawsuits as the “Litigation
Lottery.” Ludicrous litigation is a disgraceful trend of our generation that causes
problems ranging from higher insurance premiums to humorous warning labels on
products.
Stories of crazy lawsuits are everywhere. There is always a new story topping
the stupidity of the last, even though that feat seems impossible: “Woman claims a bad
hair treatment at a salon was enough to cause her emotional distress, depression and to
‘shut down’ so much that she was caused to retire early from her university teaching job
and a side job -- and the jury buys it” (“Cases Already Heard”). This is one example of
the flippant lawsuits plaguing our country. They almost seem like jokes. Their
unbelievable nature makes litigation seem like one big game. Not only do these
unnecessary claims take up time, they also take up money. The time taken up by
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dismissive lawsuits could be channeled to cases with a legitimate basis for suing. The
money spent
compensating the foolish people behind these lawsuits is taken out of taxpayers’ wallets.
Mary Mahoney, Vice President for Government Relations at the United Seniors
Association, notes, “Up to $108 billion per year in health care costs could be redirected
from lawsuits and unnecessary ‘defensive’ care into valuable drugs and other treatments.”
This money could be well spent on rightful causes throughout our country instead of selfcentered citizens suing for no crucial reason.
The medical field has been hit hard by superfluous lawsuits. Doctors have begun
leaving their profession due to the fear of possible litigation and the high insurance
premiums resulting from many medical lawsuits. Mary Mahoney claims our “broken
legal system is raising Americans’ health care costs through higher out-of-pocket
payments, insurance premiums, and federal taxes.” She also shares a story showing the
effects of rising insurance premiums: “A Nevada Trauma Center closed for ten days
because surgeons could not afford insurance premiums. […] The nearest equivalent
trauma center is five hours away, seriously threatening the lives of patients needing
emergency care.” This story proves that lawsuits may seem harmless when you look at
them on paper, but down the road they actually can threaten lives! Another effect of
incessant litigation is the over-testing of patients by doctors. Doctors are constantly
under threat of being sued for negligent care, thus causing them to excessively, and
sometimes unnecessarily, test their patients. They abuse the resource of tests in an effort
to keep themselves safe if a lawsuit were to occur. This abundance of testing ends up
costing the patient and insurance companies more money, raising insurance premiums.
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One study shows that “79% of doctors said they ordered more tests than they normally
would, for fear of lawsuits” (Mahoney). This unremitting risk of being sued for
malpractice makes mistakes unacceptable. If a doctor makes a mistake it is kept discreet
as an attempt to avoid litigation. Lawyer and founder of the legal-reform coalition
Common Good, Philip K. Howard, asserts, “In our culture of legal fear, the candor vital
to improving care is also a casualty. Because doctors don’t feel safe talking about
mistakes, they are unable to learn from them – or even offer an honest apology.”
Mistakes are the most valuable lessons we learn from. If a physician is unable to share
his experience of a mistake for fear of a lawsuit against himself, other physicians in his
profession are missing a very vital, perhaps life saving, piece of information. This
information being suppressed causes the mistake to be repeated and still kept secret. It is
an endless, disturbing cycle.
Our country’s frequent, far-fetched lawsuits have caused an “overly obvious”
warning label trend. Companies are constantly trying to cover all their angles to avoid
being
needlessly sued. This self-protection strategy has forced them to warn consumers against
dangers in a way that seems comical. You would have to be brainless to attempt some of
the
things warning labels discourage. Apparently, from the absurd warnings on products,
many
brainless acts have been attempted before. Some examples of strange warning labels
include: “A warning label found on a baby stroller cautions the user to ‘Remove child
before folding.’, unusual warning on a CD player: ‘Do not use the Ultradisc 2000 as a
projectile in a catapult.’, a household iron warns users: ‘Never iron clothes while they are
being worn.’, a can of self-defense pepper spray warns users: ‘May irritate eyes.’, and a
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popular manufactured fireplace log warns: ‘Caution- risk of fire’” (“Outrageous Lawsuits
Spawn Weird Product Warnings”). These childish warnings illustrate our generation’s
partiality to lawsuit overkill.
Litigation strikes fear into the heart of almost everyone in the professional world.
It acts as a silent killer and no one knows when it will strike. All they can do is try to
take the necessary precautions to avoid being struck by this killer. Stuart Taylor, Jr.
observes, due to the anxiety over being sued, “companies are reluctant to develop
products such as contraceptives and new vaccines that we [Americans] need to protect
us.” Lawsuit exploitation has instilled fear into the innovative minds of our generation.
Can you picture what will happen if creative, inventive people stop taking risks for fear
of being sued at some point? Our continually modern way of living would be stunted,
new medications would never be discovered, solutions to problems would not be created,
and the list goes on.
Litigation has become the trend of our selfish generation in America.
Unnecessary lawsuits are filed daily only adding to the unfortunate drawbacks they
cause. Editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life, Todd W. Smith points out:
Once upon a time in America, people took responsibility for their
actions. If they made a mistake, they owned up to it. They didn’t go looking for
scapegoats and they certainly didn’t go running for legal counsel to somehow
justify their stupidity in a court of law. Frivolous lawsuits fie up our courts while
costing both taxpayers and defendants millions. Worse yet, the implicit message
such suits send is that as long as you can sue and get away with it, go for it.
America needs to get back to a respectable way of living. A way of living where people
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can take responsibility for their actions and realize that it is not always someone else’s
fault. Someone else does not always have to pay. Nobody is perfect. Mistakes happen.
There are times when lawsuits can bring about the compensation that is rightly deserved,
but our country needs to put a stop to this downward spiral attitude of always blaming the
other person. America needs to do a self evaluation of its motivations behind these
frivolous lawsuits, because in the end we all pay for them.
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Works Cited
“Cases Already Heard.” StellaAwards Aug. 2006. 20 Oct. 2007
<http://www.stellaawards.com/caselog.html>
Howard, Philip K. “Yes, It’s a Mess—But Here’s How to Fix It.” Time 9 June 2003: 62.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Lake Sumter Community College Lib.,
Clermont, FL. 19 Oct. 2007 <http://web.ebscohost.com>.
Mahoney, Mary. “Are Lawyers Killing Health Care?” Human Events 1 (2004): 8.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Lake Sumter Community Coll. Lib.,
Clermont, FL. 19 Oct. 2007 <http://web.ebscohost.com>.
“Outrageous Lawsuits Spawn Weird Product Warnings.” Joe-Ks. 19 Oct. 2007
<http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jan2004/Weird_Warnings.htm>
Smith, Todd W. “Junk Lawsuits.” Outdoor World June/July 2005: 8. Academic
Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Lake Sumter Community College Lib., Clermont,
FL. 19 Oct. 2007 <http://web.ebscohost.com>.
Stuart, Taylor Jr. “How 9/11 Shines A Spotlight On Litigation Lottery.” National Journal
34 (2002): 12-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Lake Sumter
Community College Lib., Clermont, FL. 19 Oct. 2007
<http://web.ebscohost.com>.