Re: Not Ob/Gyn: Lawyers! Gotta luv 'em!
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Thu Jul 28 16:00:55 2005
And parents never worried about amber alerts ...
art
At Thu, 28 Jul 2005, Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
>
>Times have definitely changed. I did the same when I was a kid, though
>in the suburbs, not in a small town. Rode bikes all over, esp. to the
>library, hung out in the forest preserve, played on the edge of the
>river (but knew enough not to get too close). One of the richest guys
>in town (owned the local department store) used to shovel the snow off
>the ice on the river behind his house so kids could skate. But that was
>then, this is now. We're all paying for this stuff. A man who crossed
>private property at the end of our street with his 4-wheeler and
>proceeded to flip it on land owned by Com Ed sued Com Ed several years
>ago. Never heard how that one went, but if he collected we all paid. If
>the lady who sued the city and the library collects, we will all pay.
>Eventually electricity will be unaffordable and the library will close.
>Eventually there will be no public parks. Liability reform isn't just a
>health care issue.
>
>--
> Anna Meenan, MD
>
>At Thu, 28 Jul 2005, Cheri Van Hoover wrote:
>>
>>Anna Meenan, MD wrote:
>>> "safe" for a 9-year-old whose mother is stupid enough to let him hang
>>> out unsupervised at the downtown public library, would probably have to
>>> be a ten-foot chain link fence topped with barbed wire.
>>
>>When I was 4 and 5 years old I lived in a very small town. I was
>>allowed to walk about a half mile across town to the library where I
>>spent many happy unsupervised hours. I learned to write my name so I
>>could get my own library card. That was the only requirement for
>>library card ownership. At the same age I wandered fields, meadows,
>>forests, ponds, and streams unsupervised. Probably unwise and unsafe,
>>but I survived and came away from it with a deep appreciation for nature
>>and a strong sense of independence.
>>
>>A lovely stream flows through our property. Seasonal salmon spawn in
>>the creek, and there are trout year round. In this small rural
>>community, our property has been a traditional fishing place for all the
>>neighborhood children. Various contractors and service industry people
>>have told us their happy memories of fishing on our property and about
>>the kindly old man who used to show them the best places to dig worms.
>>
>>Times have changed. Now we are worried about the liability of having
>>children on our property unsupervised, fishing in the creek. I hate it.
>> I would much rather see those children have the same opportunity that
>>I had to explore the natural world and develop their sense of
>>independence and identity. I also want to be part of a cohesive small
>>town community instead of seeming like a paranoid, selfish outsider.
>>
>>The explanation Joe gave about the legalities of the situation are
>>pretty much word for word what our attorney told us.
>>
>>I consider the whole situation very sad.
>>
>>--
>>Cheri Van Hoover, CNM, MS
>>Faculty, Midwifery Institute at Philadelphia University
>>
--
art fougner, md
"If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
Lawrence Peter Berra
