http://www.chinadaily.com(...)content_11794724.htmNeed to protect our Good SamaritansAfter falling in a downtown street and lying on the cold pavement, face down, for half an hour, during which no passers-by moved to help him, an 83-year-old man died. Hearing this story, what would you call this society? Cold-hearted?
In fact, the pedestrians in the southern China city of Fuzhou wanted to help when they found the old man lying on the ground last Wednesday. Two women tried to help the old man up. But one of the onlookers said: "Better not touch him. It will be hard for you to put it clearly later on."
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.
The case is not exceptional. A similar tragedy happened just 13 days earlier, in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. A 78-year-old man was found on the rain-soaked ground, face down in a residential compound, none of the onlookers took any action except to call the police. Despite the efforts of first-aid personnel to save his life, the man died. Had anybody turned him over and lifted his head up, the old man wouldn't have died. When questioned by the man's son, one of the community's guards said: "We dared not touch the old man because we would not be able to put it clearly should anything untoward occur."
The phrase "hard to put it clearly" may sound odd to foreigners, but everybody in China nowadays knows its meaning. When you try to help someone who falls to the ground injured or in coma, that person may allege that you caused the fall. You will then find it difficult to clear yourself of suspicion if the case is taken to court.
There was a precedent for this. On Nov 20, 2006, an old woman fell to the ground and broke her leg after jostling at a bus stop in Nanjing, an eastern China city. A young man, Peng Yu, helped her up and escorted her to hospital. Later the woman and her family dragged the man to court, which ruled that the young man should pay 40 percent of the medical costs. The court said the decision was reached by reasoning. The verdict said that "according to common sense", it was highly possible that the defendant had bumped into the old woman, given that he was the first person to get off the bus when the old woman was pushed down in front of the bus door and, "according to what one would normally do in this case", Peng would have left soon after sending the woman to the hospital instead of staying there for the surgical check. "His behavior obviously went against common sense."
This "reasoning" horrified, and angered, the whole nation. From then on, the number of pedestrians helping old people in need has dramatically decreased. Using search engines online, one can get dozens of stories of old people left lying on the ground without any passers-by giving a helping hand. Netizens have even coined a new phrase for it - "sequel of the Peng Yu case".
In the wake of this case old people also learned the way to get help was to shout a disclaimer for the would-be helpers. On Feb 22, 2009, a 75-year-old man fell to the ground when disembarking from a bus, also in Nanjing. Once again, nobody dared to touch him. In desperation, the old man shouted: "It is not anybody's fault. I fell by myself." At the words, everybody nearby came with all kinds of help.
In fact, most people feel compassion for the weak. But the frequent occurrence of extortion and blackmail after a passer-by has offered help has deterred people from acting as a Good Samaritan. Something has to be done to change the situation.
We may learn from the US experience.
In a 2004 traffic crash, a woman pulled a coworker from a car fearing a possible explosion. The injured person later filed a lawsuit against the rescuer, claiming that the improper way she was pulled from the car caused her paralysis. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff. The ruling got "condemned from coast to coast" for its obvious unfairness. In June 2009, the California legislature passed the Good Samaritan Protection Act, which immunizes Good Samaritans from liability when they assist others at the scene of an emergency. The plaintiff withdrew the suit.
We Chinese also need such a law so that "Good Samaritans should never again have to second-guess the consequences of helping", as said by one California senator after the law was passed.
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http://globalvoicesonline(...)-would-be-samaritan/China: Senior sues would-be SamaritanAt around 9:00 am on November 20, 2006 in the eastern city of Nanjing, a Ms. Xu, now 65, was knocked down while trying to board a bus. Peng Yu, a 26-year-old man, as he got off at the station, saw Ms. Xu lying on the ground with her left collarbone fractured.
This much is known; a lack of witness leaves what happened next embroiled in controversy. According to Peng, he helped elderly Ms. Xu up and took her to the hospital. Soon after, Ms. Xu's family arrived. Peng's good deed worthy of praise? Not this time. According to Peng, however, when Xu heard that treatment would figure into the tens of thousands, Ms. Xu immediately blurted out at him: it was YOU who knocked me down!'
According to the Xus, as it was Peng Yu who knocked her down and then took her to the hospital for treatment, it is he who must take responsibility. So then Ms. Xu sued the young man for 136,419.30 yuan, including medical expenses and compensation for emotional suffering.
On September 7, at the 4th session of the case, the district court finally released its verdict: Peng Yu, partially liable for the accident, would pay 45, 876.36 yuan (US$6,076) to Ms Xu.
The court's sentence was based on the following analysis:
As the first passenger off the bus, it was most likely Peng who slammed into Ms. Xu. And according to common sense, if Peng had not been the one who collided with Ms. Xu, it is reasonable to assume that instead of sending the old woman to hospital, even giving her 200 yuan, he would have caught the real troublemaker. As Peng's actions run contrary to common sense, it was ruled that Peng Yu held responsibility for Ms. Xu's injury.
Emphasis: the court based its judgment entirely on common sense. In the absence of sustainable facts or any witnesses, a fire was immediately lit on the blogsphere, with many netizens and bloggers protesting the ruling, most of them inclined to see Peng Yu as innocent, and lamenting what impact this immensely-discussed incident would have for society when future roadside or traffic injuries occur. Would you risk lending a hand?
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http://www.danwei.org/law/common_sense_decency_and_crowd.phpHere's an excerpt from the judgment that displays the sort of "common sense" the judges used to determine that Peng Yu knocked Xu to the ground
1. Using daily life experience to analyze things, in addition to falling as a result of colliding with another person, the plaintiff could have tripped or slipped to the ground. However, during the trial neither party's account mentioned the plaintiff tripping or slipping, nor did the defendant provide any counter evidence that this could be the case. The evidence presented in this case strongly points to the plaintiff being pushed to the ground by an outside force. When someone is pushed to the ground, a typical first reaction is to determine where that force came from, to identify the person with whom the collision took place. If the person who struck them has fled, then the first reaction of the individual who has fallen is to call for assistance and urge others to help stop that person.
The present case took place in a relatively well-trafficked bus station, a public place, during mid-morning when visibility was relatively good. The incident was very brief, so the person who knocked the plaintiff to the ground could not easily have fled. According to the defendant's own admission, he was the first person off the bus. Using common sense, there is a very high possibility that he collided with the plaintiff.
If the defendant was acting heroically in performing a good deed, then a more realistic action would have been to catch the person who collided with the plaintiff, rather than merely having good intentions and helping her up. If the defendant was performing a good deed, then according to sociological reasoning, when the plaintiff's family arrived, he could have stated the facts clearly, had the plaintiff's family take her to the hospital, and then departed the scene. But the defendant did not make this choice; his actions are conspicuously at odds with reason.
...
4. The defendant gave the plaintiff 200 yuan on the day of the incident but never asked for it back. The plaintiff and defendant both acknowledge that the money was given, but they provide different accounts of its motivation. The plaintiff believes that it was a preliminary advance on compensation money; the defendant believes that it was a loan. According to the experience of daily life, the plaintiff and defendant, never having met before, would in general not rashly loan money. Even if, as the defendant claims, it was a loan, then when there was the chance that he would be seen as accepting responsibility for the accident, he ought to have asked a disinterested individual at the bus station to be a witness, or asked the plaintiff's family for an IOU (or statement) in writing after describing the situation. However, there is no record of the defendant doing so in the present case; moreover, with the plaintiff's family accompanying her to the hospital, the likelihood of him lending money to the plaintiff is rather small.
In addition, if one has injured someone in a collision, the most appropriate action is to offer preliminary compensation. The witness for the defense testified that the plaintiff and defendant went to the police station to handle the accident; from this fact we can deduce that the plaintiff believed that it was the defendant, and not another individual, who had knocked her to the ground. It would be even more unlikely for the defendant to lend money to the plaintiff under such circumstances. Summing up the above analysis, we can determine that the money was compensation, and not a loan.
[ Bericht 8% gewijzigd door slashdotter3 op 17-10-2011 06:04:40 ]