Taking the Good Samaritan to Court ^(试发表)

Written by Tom Mach To learn more about Tom Mach please visit tommach.com Most people are probably familiar with the “Good Samaritan” story in the Bible. It’s the one Jesus told about a traveler who is beaten, robbed, and left to die on the road. A priest comes by, sees the man, but walks on. So too does a Levite who sees the dying man. But a Samaritan sees the man, binds his wounds, and takes him to an inn, asking the innkeeper to take care of him, giving me money for his troubles. Unfortunately, there is a great shortage of good Samaritans in today’s world. While part of it may be our preoccupation with ourselves and our busy lives, another part may be due to fear of litigation. I recently received the following from a Twitter friend named Ruoxu from China. Here’s her story: Hello, I want to tell you about a situation involving compassion in China. A few years ago, a famous lawsuit was started by an elderly lady. She was struck by a car and plummeted to the street. A young man came to her aid and took her to a hospital. However, instead of thanking him she sued him, claiming he was the one responsible for her injuries. Since there were no witnesses or other evidence conflicting with her testimony, the court rules that the young man must compensate for her injury because ‘generally speaking, people in China have rarely helped someone in situations like this.’ This ruling all but killed any compassion people may have felt for others. After the lawsuit, most people were convinced that helping someone in desperate need was dangerous. A few days after this happened, a Chinese newspaper reported that another elderly lady fell down in the street, but this time no one came to help. She was left there in the street, severely injured, and died. Peng Yu is the name of the young man who wanted to be compassionate. His “crime” in helping out the elderly lady was to pay her 45876.6 yuan as compensation. [Note the photo accompanying this blog is Pena Vu while the other is a caricature of an elderly man who falls down but no one dares to help.] In a related story, an 84-year-old man was found lying in the street for a long while, during which time no passers-by attempted to help him. It was reported that two women wanted to help him up, but one of the onlookers warned them not to touch him if they wanted to avoid problems with the law. This convinced the women to call the police with a cell phone, but by the time the ambulance finally arrived, the old man had died. The two women hesitated and finally stood up. Using their cell phone, they called the police and first-aid center. But by the time the ambulance arrived, the old man had died. A similar event occurred in the United States in 2004. A woman pulled a coworker from a car that was on fire as a result of an automobile collision. Later, the injured person sued the rescuer and claimed that she suffered paralysis due to the way the rescuer pulled her from the burning car. While the court initially ruled in favor of the plaintiff, the ruling stirred a lot of anger across the country. As a result, five years later, the California legislature passed the Good Samaritan Protection Act (CPA). The CPA protected Good Samaritans from liability when assisting another. However Good Samaritan laws in most states protect the rescuer ONLY if the rescuer is not compensated monetarily for his or her own actions. In other words, a policeman or fireman who attempts to rescue someone can still be later sued by the one who was rescued. Also, if the rescuer is later rewarded by anyone (including the person rescued), he or she can still be sued. We are a litigious society, where some people simply want to sue others either to extract money or to shift the blame on someone else, even if it’s not the other person’s fault. Frivolous lawsuits are the bane of society, and some countries discourage this by forcing plaintiffs to pay for the defendant’s legal and court costs if those lawsuits have no solid basis for a court action. While fear of legal retaliation may be one reason some people may feat being a Good Samaritan, I believe another major factor is preoccupation with our own selves. Now that we have all kinds of electronic devices and don’t really have to communicate face-to-face or by handwritten letters that require more thought that emails–now that we have materialism on the brain or legitimate personal concerns like how to find a job–now that we have these things to think about, we have little room left for compassion. And I don’t think we as a society can expect to be blessed by God if we totally shut the door to helping out a person in distress. I’ve attempted to show compassion–or the lack thereof–in all of my books…and I hope I’ve succeeded in some small way. It could be compassion for a mistreated slave (SISSY) or compassion for a priest wrongfully accused of a crime (AN INNOCENT MURDERED) or compassion for a scientist who has to go it alone when no one believes him (ADVENT)…or even a cat who cannot find his way back home (HOMER THE ROAMER). Examples of compassion or lack thereof can be found in all examples of life. I guess I like to write about compassion because it is a friend of forgiveness and a close relative of love.