When I worked at a private girls school, I was advised to avoid any intervention requiring physical contact with the students, at almost all cost.
As an example, I was told that if I saw a student falling I should let them fall rather than intervene, since it is easier to make a legal case that I was unable to intervene, than it is to make a legal case that physical contact was both necessary and appropriate.
And of course, if I see an injured student I should call the medical staff, since it is their role to administer medical aid not mine (it is not my role to provide medical aid, and providing medical aid would expose me to litigation).
The world has become a place where obese people can sue fast-food chains for being obese; chain smokers sue cigarette makers for having lung cancer; and daft people scalding themselves with coffee sue coffee shops for spilling hot coffee all over themselves while driving.
How sad.
What a shame.
I’d hang my head in shame if I weighed 120kg and took KFC to court.
Pathetic, yes, but how many times do you read in the Brit press about “have-a-go heroes?” Often enough that they’ve even coined a special term for them. By absolutely no means confined to Taiwan.
There is a big problem about information source, which is my writing.
I am Taiwanese who can’t speak and write English well.
When I posted the news story, I was unable to provide the details of the event.
Instead of giving the news story, I just said how good those two foreign students were. Kind of misleading information.
I accidentally came across the news because I avoid watching Taiwanese TV news and sometimes I read Taiwanese news for fun.
(But it is a pity that I missed the fake 228-event news footage.)
It is fun to read how those journalists or editors dramatize the new stories or give some bloody or racy titles to news.
The domestic violence news caught my attention is because the journalist who reported the story did some homework; even though the journalist’s judgment is clear: how cold-blood the Taiwanese is nowadays, and Taiwanese society should gets improvement.
The pages included different sides of stories: the two students’ opinions, the police’ attitude and response, the difficult reality of domestic violence law. And some cases happened before and how Taiwanese react to similar cases.
The world has become a place where obese people can sue fast-food chains for being obese; chain smokers sue cigarette makers for having lung cancer; and daft people scalding themselves with coffee sue coffee shops for spilling hot coffee all over themselves while driving.
How sad.
What a shame.
I’d hang my head in shame if I weighed 120kg and took KFC to court.
What a lot of wankers.[/quote]
Before we go off the deep end here, aren’t there Good Samaritan Laws in most states which protect a person from being sued if they tried to help someone in good faith? I haven’t heard of any cases where a victim sued a person that tried to help him/her and won. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, because I haven’t been living in the U.S. for 5 years. But when I was last living there in 2002, I was working in a shelter for teenagers and we were never worried about an issue like this. The law protects people who get involved if their intention was to help a person in an emergency.
Taiwan doesn’t have any laws on the books like that, which is one other reason why people here are leery to help. I have heard of many cases of people being sued by the victim here, but not in the U.S.
[quote=“erhu”]Before we go off the deep end here, aren’t there Good Samaritan Laws in most states which protect a person from being sued if they tried to help someone in good faith? I haven’t heard of any cases where a victim sued a person that tried to help him/her and won. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, because I haven’t been living in the U.S. for 5 years. But when I was last living there in 2002, I was working in a shelter for teenagers and we were never worried about an issue like this. The law protects people who get involved if their intention was to help a person in an emergency.
Taiwan doesn’t have any laws on the books like that, which is one other reason why people here are leery to help. I have heard of many cases of people being sued by the victim here, but not in the U.S.[/quote]In several countries in Europe it’s illegal NOT to help. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law
Not in Australia, that I know of. I think there’s some legislation in some states, but last time I looked it wasn’t adequate to cover care organisations such as St John’s Ambulance, which is pretty pathetic.
Well there you go. Before we start calling Taiwanese cold hearted, let’s consider that many people might help if their fear of being maliciously sued didn’t overcome their desire to assist. It’s not that they’re cold hearted, it’s just that they’re practical.
It’s true–most states in the US have Good Samaritan laws. They cover civilians and off-duty, out-of-uniform medics. But victims who are picked up by on-duty medics, or treated by doctors, for that matter, will they’ll sue even if there was no wrong if they think they can make a buck. It’s quite horrible.
A couple weeks ago my high heel caught on the cuff of my pant and I fell HARD onto the pavement. The poor woman who witnessed it looked more shaken than I felt, and despite my poor Chinese, I could tell she was really concerned about me and was trying to offer help. I was fine and was able to communicate that to her, but she still looked awfully worried. So is the moral of the story that people will help when there’s no threat to themselves?
I am thinking within 5 years to become Tyc00n inc. so to speak so that all my assets actually belong in a company which pays out to trust funds which I control. Control itself of the company is done as a director, which is easy to transfer to my brother.
[quote=“StarrStruck”]So is the moral of the story that people will help when there’s no threat to themselves?quote]
I had witnessed a car accident few years ago.
It was raining and chilling night, only few people on the street. I was on my way home from work in the midnight. I saw a woman running a red night. She just ignored the sign. The old woman suddenly flied and fell down just few steps before me.
I realized she was hit by a car which I learned afterwards that the driver was drunk driving and speeding.
I am used to bloody scenes because I am a horror movie fan. But when a really person was dying in front of me, her blood gushing out of her mouth and nose and ears, the white material leaking out from her skull, I was so horrified.
I told myself in my mind: call ambulance, then call police, don’t forget to memorize the license plate.
I noticed that other bystanders tried to help, too. They came over, chased after the car, stopped him because the driver tried to run away.
I grabbed my cell phone and called the ambulance.
While I was calling, I cursed myself. Damn! I couldn’t hit the number well. I was quivering because I knew she was dying and I was really scared.
(I cursed the cell phone design after I got home)
I look back to the event; I think it probably didn’t take me 2-4 minutes.
The decision-making which was full of emotion response was a really quick process.
Most of bystanders waited the ambulance and police arrived. The police took the statements from us. When I encountered the situation, I was unable to think what would happen afterwards, not mention to the legal problem.
I really don’t understand human mind. Sometimes they offer help, sometimes they don’t. And their reactions to various conditions are so unpredictable.