A recent furor erupted over grounded flights across much of western Europe due to volcanic ash. News of stranded tourists and business people hit the headlines about the same time stories were published about the health system’s response to the H1N1 pandemic. The theme was similar in both cases: someone probably over-reacted.
Of course, it is easy to come to that conclusion after the fact. When dealing with any emergency, most of us want to get back to regular business as soon as worst is over, even though there might still be a certain amount of risk. And we get frustrated when the authorities drag their feet.
If our ancient ancestors had cowered in their caves until it was absolutely safe to leave, they would have starved to death. The proto-humans who survived to pass on their DNA were the ones who did the cave man equivalent of circling the wagons at the first sign of danger, but were also ready to take a calculated risk.
Of course, our distant ancestors never had to worry about getting sued.
Therein lies our frustration with foot-dragging authorities. About the time our ancient cave man DNA is telling most of us to get back out there and take care of business, the folks whose job it is to protect governments and businesses from lawsuits keep things at a full stop until they are absolutely certain it is safe. And for good reason.
Most of us have heard the story about the person who was awarded a huge amount of money from a fast food restaurant after suffering burns from hot coffee that was deemed too hot. There have been similar cases, mostly in the United States but some in Canada.
Throwing snowballs (and a lot of other activities many of us enjoyed as children and lived to tell the tale) have been banned from the schoolyard out of fear of liability. The winning team no longer gets to ride around town in triumph on the fire truck. Some charitable events are being cancelled. It may not be better to be safe than sorry, but it is certainly cheaper.
Which leads directly back to the volcano and the flu pandemic.
Did we need to try to vaccinate everyone in the country? Probably not. But if H1N1 had turned out to be “the big one” and health officials had failed to take every possible precaution at whatever the expense, the resulting lawsuits would have been financially devastating. Ditto for the planes. Keeping them on the ground, perhaps unnecessarily, may have cost a fortune, but it is a pittance compared to the expense if even one plane had crashed.
When a person loses the ability to earn a living and support his or her family because of someone else's error, it stands to reason that a cash settlement should result. But in recent years, some settlements have been so high that fear of being on the losing end of a liability suit has become a key factor in the decisions government authorities make.
No one wants those responsible for our health and safety to throw caution to the winds, of course, but no one wants a culture of overwhelming caution that costs too much and stifles initiative, either.
If we, as a culture, are to continue “boldly going where no one has gone before,” we need to find a comfortable middle ground that is somewhere between leaping off the roof and hiding in the basement.
Our insurance industry serves a useful purpose in cushioning the damage, but we need to get a lid on some of those settlements our courts are awarding. No one is saying it will be easy.