Exactly one of the major problems with this world country IMO. Frivolous lawsuits are rewarded.
If they thought ethically and honestly, they wouldn't be lawyers.
You are wrong. This is not a problem with YOUR country, its a problem everywhere in the world!
That's the reason I have to spend almost half my year's income in a Medical Malpractice Insurance Policy costing up to $40k-$50k a year, because people try to get money from everywhere they can. It doesn't matter if there is a real reason or not, if there is a chance most will try it anyway.
I have a fellow Cardiothoracic Surgeon who was sued a couple of years ago due to one of the most stupid cases ever. A 20 year old patient came to the ER with two 9mm shots in his chest area and a perforated left heart auricle. The patient's prognosis couldn't be worst, and 90% of physicians would have just given supportive measures and wait for his death. This guy had done some training in Russia, and had learned a technique for direct heart hand massage. When he examined the patient, he decided it was the only way out for him to have a chance of surviving so he opened his chest in the room, grabbed his heart and started pumping while taking him to the OR. They closed the auricular perforation but the guy died two hours afterwards since the blood loss and damage was way beyond anything reparable.
My friend told the family what he had done in order to try to have one more chance of saving the guys life, and explained everything to them. The stupidest thing happened afterwards, when the surgeon received a notification that a lawsuit against him was pending regarding "the use of a non-conventional technique not approved by the American College of Heart Surgery" and he was blamed for the guys death, even though the guy was death to start with.
The curious thing is there was no legal fight about the "shooting" which had happened in their neighborhood and which suspects where all known people (to the family), but rather they put all their efforts in getting the most money from the Hospital instead.
My friend's license was suspended, and a the end they conciliated on around $500k (which thankfully it was paid by the insurance company).
He had to migrate to Argentina where he is working now, due to the ridiculous reward toward stupid lawsuits which always have this extremely greedy dishonest lawyer who is willing to destroy other people careers, people who have done nothing but help their community, in order to get a couple of dollars out of it.
Lesson learned? Yes, of course. If any of your family members came to the ER with anything I know I can do something to save their lives but its not written down in the procedure manuals given by the clinic, and there is the slightest chance ever for things not to go perfectly ok (which is never, obviously), I'll rather let them die and avoid a lawsuit against me.
So yes, I agree 100% with you Eclark, and any time any of you has a complain about how you were treated in a medical consultation, hospital, clinic, etc, remember it was people who unconsciously voted for this type of things to happen when letting frivolous and mal-intentioned lawsuits to hit even the medical field.