Iris lilies, how are things in your hood?

[iris lilies]

Hi IL...couple of questions for you......I don't understand the "financed by the taxpayers" line - at least in the sense of if the police were not breaking the law there would be no possibility of a huge settlement. Cause and effect here. Treat me like those reporters were treated, break the law like that, I or anyone else would be a FOOL not to sue...

Or not.

Surely you can understand the costs that faux or punitive suits level in society? You are one to complain endlessly about medical costs in the U.S. Well buddy, medical lawsuit happy Americans have helped create those high medical costs. DH, on one of his several juries, heard a frivolous medical case and the plantiff got 0 even though he had carefully orchestrated his lawsuit to be heard in the city's courts where traditionally plantiffs are rewarded by juries, more so than out in the county. But the doctor had to defend himself and spent $$$ or did his insurance company, ca-ching ca-ching.

What are your protections when you've got a beef with a physician in Mexico?

WhyCanada you ask?... Shatter my rights like that, you can't expect everyone to stay in the United States after that. ..

With all the sincerity in the world, I want to assure you that I truly do not expect you to stay in the U.S. If you are here because of my expectations, you are released. Feel free to go right now!

...if there's no lawsuit, what's to stop them from going even further over the line next time, and if any of us were in that situation and did not go for the settlement, wouldn't WE also be partly guilty for condoning this police behavior via non-action?

Maybe yes, maybe no. Not everything has to be settled in court. But I agree that having this as a tool in society can be considered a valuable deterrent.

The cops are keeping the name of the shooter cop on the down low to protect him. I am amazed that you can't see this, given what's exploding in his community.

[bae]

I'm not sure how much deterrent "big lawsuits" are, once you follow the money.

The settlement funds don't come out of the hide of the department, generally. They come from the city, and the city's insurer, and that money comes from the taxes paid by the citizens of the community being policed. So your fellow citizens are really paying the bill, not The Evil Police. Though maybe they will get mad enough at this to toss out the city council/mayor/police chief, though the amount of money from each individual resident's pocket is likely so small that they may not even be motivated to complain.

Bother.

[ApatheticNoMore]

What are your protections when you've got a beef with a physician in Mexico?

well you may or may not have the right to sue with a physician in the U.S. anyway. I think in a few years it's doubtful many will as some have started requiring arbitration agreements. Which means if you agree to see the doctor, all disputes go through arbitration and you waive your right to sue (which may raise questions of what kind of physician one is seeing - I mean you do wonder, if the doctor has an above average reason to fear suits - and what kind of 3rd world country they live in anyway ...).

[CathyA]

We don't seem to have the problem with police in the nearby city here.......except they're always getting drunk. We have a lot of murders going on.
As far as the MO stuff going on, I think it would be very hard to deal with out-of-control crowds.........especially when people are allowed to have all sorts of guns.

I think it's very unfortunate that it started out as a peaceful protest and got violent. Seems like the peaceful protestors would try to put pressure on those of them who take advantage of the moment to plunder and destroy.
It just takes credibility away from their protest.

[CathyA]

well you may or may not have the right to sue with a physician in the U.S. anyway. I think in a few years it's doubtful many will as some have started requiring arbitration agreements. Which means if you agree to see the doctor, all disputes go through arbitration and you waive your right to sue (which may raise questions of what kind of physician one is seeing - I mean you do wonder, if the doctor has an above average reason to fear suits - and what kind of 3rd world country they live in anyway ...).

I had a cousin here in the states (at a reputable hospital) who went in for elective shoulder surgery. She ended up in ICU, septic, on a respirator, going into kidney failure, etc., etc. She was very close to death, but survived. Their lawyer told them they didn't have any chance to win a lawsuit, and they shouldn't even waste their money or time.

[jp1]

I don't think there are enough police for that. Or budget to hire them.

Who needs budgets when the pentagon is giving out MRAPs for free.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-libert...mericas-police

[JaneV2.0]

..
I think it's very unfortunate that it started out as a peaceful protest and got violent. Seems like the peaceful protestors would try to put pressure on those of them who take advantage of the moment to plunder and destroy.
It just takes credibility away from their protest.

Except that when livelihoods are involved, people tend to sit up and pay attention. Just like intersections seem to get traffic lights only after a few deaths. Human nature.

And there may be frivolous medical lawsuits, but as CathyA suggested, there are countless botched surgeries, needless deaths, and cases of egregious incompetence that never come to trial. Malpractice insurance is expensive because it's a cash cow for the insurance companies.

From merckmanual.com: As onerous as premiums and the threat of lawsuits can be for individual physicians (particularly in certain high-risk specialties and geographic areas), the total annual malpractice premium amount paid in 2008 by physicians and institutions was about $12 billion, representing only about 0.6% of total annual health care costs. Actual malpractice settlements paid out in 2008 were $3.6 billion (< 0.2% of health care costs). Thus, even a major reduction in malpractice settlements would not lower total health care costs significantly, although it could greatly affect certain physicians' practices.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Well here's an update. I just went to yahoo.com news where I found out that the name of the officer in Ferguson has been released. I think this was smart that they knuckled under and released the name. To not do so, to me anyway, has an implication to it that the police see themselves as above the law. In a country with such inequality, that just doesn't fly very well, especially when we are talking of a young person - 18 for crying out loud - being killed......Glad the name's out there now and also glad that things have calmed down some out there. Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

Or not.

Surely you can understand the costs that faux or punitive suits level in society? You are one to complain endlessly about medical costs in the U.S. Well buddy, medical lawsuit happy Americans have helped create those high medical costs. DH, on one of his several juries, heard a frivolous medical case and the plantiff got 0 even though he had carefully orchestrated his lawsuit to be heard in the city's courts where traditionally plantiffs are rewarded by juries, more so than out in the county. But the doctor had to defend himself and spent $$$ or did his insurance company, ca-ching ca-ching.

What are your protections when you've got a beef with a physician in Mexico?



With all the sincerity in the world, I want to assure you that I truly do not expect you to stay in the U.S. If you are here because of my expectations, you are released. Feel free to go right now!



Maybe yes, maybe no. Not everything has to be settled in court. But I agree that having this as a tool in society can be considered a valuable deterrent.

The cops are keeping the name of the shooter cop on the down low to protect him. I am amazed that you can't see this, given what's exploding in his community.

To answer a few of your questions - I've never had - to date, knock on wood - any issues with medical care in Mexico. The doctors I've seen have been mostly US trained and quite competent and where I've been it's quite clean and safe and sanitized. And probably a cause of fear to US hospitals as more people catch on and offshore their healthcare. As to dental, I did have one crown fall out after four years which did bum me out but I went back to Mexico and got it redone for $160 and I was going there anyway for other things so when I compare that $160 to what it would cost here I can't get too upset.

As to leaving the US - here are my thoughts - A. I was only talking about it in the sense of if I were one of the reporters treated this way in Ferguson, and B. Why is US citizenship - or any other citizenship for that matter - supposed to be immune from comparison shopping and intense evaluation? If employers can be so picky and choosy and intense in evaluating every last move an employee makes, why not turn that around and put your citizenship under the microscope? To me this is just common sense, and I'd feel this way about any country - not just the US. Certainly there is room for improvement anywhere in the world. Not just here.

I can see where withholding the name of the cop involved is protecting him - the only problem with this is the perception that by doing so, the cops see themselves as being above the law - which unfortunately in the US the past few years they have seemed to be. Perhaps (?) the good that can come out of this is people may rise up and demand more accountability out of the police. More pension loss due to police misbehavior and more not just accepting that this is the new normal as far as law enforcement. And maybe less militarization of the police? Such militarization is only going to lead to more such incidents down the road.....Rob

[Gregg]

There's not a military on the planet that could impose martial law on this country against the will of the citizens.

I completely agree with your assessment, bae. What I'm curious about is whether or not we're really different from Solzhenitsyn's Russia regarding that will of the citizens or if we're just so many frogs in the pot. Time will likely tell.