Lawsuit Paranoia
I was surprised to find no comment in the blogosphere about Newsweek’s December 15, 2003 cover story "LAWSUIT HELL: How Fear of Litigation is Paralizing our Professions."
As the title makes clear, the article is yet another shot in the GOP's war for tort reform (one of Karl Rove's pet projects).
The story begins with three examples of professionals negatively affected by lawsuits. Try to see what they have in common.
[1] The Rev. Ron Singleton's door is always open. That way, when the Methodist minister of a small congregation in Inman, S.C., is counseling a parishioner, his secretary across the hall is a witness in case Singleton is acused of inappropriate behavior. (When is secretary is not around, the reverend does his couseling at the local Burger King.) Singleton has a policy of no hugging from the front; just a chaste arm around the shoulders from the side. And he's developed a lame little hand pat to console the lost and the grieving. The dearth of hugging is “really sad,” he says, but what is he going to do? He could ill afford a lawsuit.
[2] Dr. Sandra R. Scott of Brooklyn, N.Y., has never been sued for malpractice, but that doesn't keep her from worrying. As an emergency-room doctor, she often hears her patients threaten lawsuits -- even while she’s treating them. “They’ll come in, having bumped their heads on the kitchen cabinet, and meanwhile I’ll be dealing with two car crashes,” she says. “And if they don’t have the test they think they should have in a timely fashion, they’ll get very angry. All of a sudden, it’s ‘You’re not treating me, this hospital is horrible, I’m going to sue you’.”
[3] Ryan Warner is a volunteer who runs an annual softball tournament in Page, Ariz., that usually raises about $5,000 to support local school sports programs. But not this year. A man who broke his leg at a recent tournament sliding into third base filed a $100,000 lawsuit against the city, and Warner fears he may be named as a defendant. “It’s very upsetting when you’re doing something for the community, not making any money for yourself, to be sued over something over which you had no control,” he says. So Warner cancelled the tournament.
Yes, each person is worried over being sued and two of them have changed their behavior as a result.
But it’s also worth noting that NONE OF THEM HAS BEEN SUED.
And, yes, I think the good Reverend Singleton's reaction is pretty peculiar. Moreover, the softball organizer’s decision seems irrational, insofar as he cites being sued as his reason for not having the tournament, when in fact he wasn't sued.
This leads the sensitive reader to wonder whether the appropriate question to ask is not whether there are too many frivolous lawsuits, but rather why people like the poor reverend have come to be so paranoid about being sued that they are terrified to hug anybody.
And the answer to that question begins with articles like the one in question, “LAWSUIT HELL.” It is, at least in part, media-generated paranoia.
11:25:50 PM 
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