Supervisor told worker to stop CPR on colleague

[cultcross]

I don't think punitive damages are unreasonable.

My thought has always been that the civil courts should be for redressing provable loss caused by non-criminal fault - where one party has lost out because of some failing of the other, like not paying what they owe, breaching a contract, etc. A matter of arbitrating differences between people if you like. I don't feel they should be used for punishment; with their lower standard of proof, it always seems to me to be a run-around to avoid the higher standards of the criminal courts. If someone or a company should be punished for their actions in addition to redressing any specific loss caused, in my mind that is the remit of the criminal justice system, not a lawsuit. I am well aware, however, that the US legal system disagrees! Here punitive damages exist as well, but are much much rarer and can only be given under some pretty specific and tight circumstances.

I'm no expert on English tort law, but I know that he have vicarious liability to at least some extent. For example, if a case involves the actions of police employees, the case is cited as The Chief Constable of Whatever Police vs. John A Smith.

If potential lawsuits such as this were routinely handled as criminal, not civil, cases, nothing would ever get done. Who-all do you think would be prosecuting these -- the assistant state's attorneys/assistant district attorneys who are already underpaid and inundated with every violation of criminal law as it is? By requiring criminal prosecution, you'd be saying that the state should step in every time, probably at least doubling or maybe tripling the prosecuting offices' case loads. The backlogs would be years and years.

Yes, I am saying the criminal justice system should step in every time there is punishment to be given - I don't think that's unreasonable, myself. That is the case here, pretty much (as I said, punitive damages in civil court are extremely rare here and we don't have torts like 'emotional distress' - here 99% of the time you get proven damages, end of.) and somehow we haven't fallen apart. Due process in punishing people should not be ignored or circumvented because it's too much work.

 

[Davros]

Had my supervisor told me to stop trying to save a coworkers life I would likely tell them to go fuck themselves.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

In CPR training they told us not to stop until told to by a medical professional.

Legally you can't until the first res ponders(EMT's) get there, once you start you should continue.

Had my supervisor told me to stop trying to save a coworkers life I would likely tell them to go fuck themselves.

I agree Devros,
Fortunately I work in a place were that would not happen. we had a military member collapse a few months back all those trained in first aid performed CPR on him until we could get the portable defibrillator on him and oxygen to him, he is alive to day because of our actions.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yes, I am saying the criminal justice system should step in every time there is punishment to be given - I don't think that's unreasonable, myself. That is the case here, pretty much (as I said, punitive damages in civil court are extremely rare here and we don't have torts like 'emotional distress' - here 99% of the time you get proven damages, end of.) and somehow we haven't fallen apart. Due process in punishing people should not be ignored or circumvented because it's too much work.

Just to clarify, pain and suffering as well as torts like intentional infliction of emotional distress are still not supposed to be punitive. They just recognize that you can be harmed by someone in non-economic ways even if the compensation you get back has to be limited to money (since there's no literal way to make you whole).