Compensation for a wrong done to you is a tricky issue. When someone was careless and you now have to deal with debilitating consequences, of course the person who wronged you should be required to help you cope. Money is the easiest way to quantify this help, and hand it over.
The thing is, compensation has become ridiculous. People get rich from being able to blame someone else for an accident. I linked to this article for another post, on Train Window, but it sparked thought on this separate issue. The parents of a child who died after being treated at a hospital were paid money to compensate them for their loss (though in fairness, the sum is not disclosed). Why? I would agree to their legal costs being covered, but why throw money at the couple themselves? What purpose does this serve?
What happens when we make people pay vast sums for their mistakes, is that they stop thinking of how to best do their job and start thinking of how best to avoid being sued. The effect is that people are not doing their jobs the best they can any more. If a doctor has to choose between treatment A and treatment B, she will not choose the one she feels instinctively is the best, she will choose the one least likely to get her sued. Or more accurately, she will rather order a test she knows in her heart is unnecessary than take the chance of not ordering the test and later being saddled with a massive financial burden because out of the dozens of decisions she made that day, that single one was wrong. Every unnecessary test costs money, and someone has to pay. That someone is you.
Whether through higher taxes to fund state-sponsored medical care or soaring premiums for health insurance, you pay for someone else’s multi-million payout. In addition, we’re subjected to scores of wasted tests and treatments which doctors apply to cover themselves, just in case. Sadly, these precautions are sometimes downright bad for you, but vital to protect the doctor in case you decide to drag them to court. Children are deprived of experiences which can enhance their lives, spark ideas, raise their performance and physically make their brains grow, because the teachers have to think first of the worst case scenario, not of what’s best for the children in their care. One child can fall and break a leg on a playground, get a massive settlement in court, and literally millions of children pay the price when they are deprived of yet another experience.
But compensation is there for a reason. We can’t just take it away, because then we go back to a place where people could do what they liked with impunity. What if we change it? What if instead of giving someone a mass of money, we give them the power to monitor changes implemented to make things better? You can meet with a panel of specialists and hear what they explain the problem was, what they decide is the best way to address the issue, then receive monthly reports on what has been done to change things so fewer people have to experience what you experienced. What if the person who messed up only has to pay the bill for counselling, directly, with receipts provided?
It just seems to me to defeat the purpose, when an institution which, say, didn’t have enough staff and therefore didn’t take good enough care of you now has to pay you x amount. Doesn’t that make it even more difficult for them to employ more staff? I think it’s insane, and needs to change.
I highly, highly recommend this TED talk for more thought on the issue.
