Andrew Lentvorski wrote:
One problem is that sins of commission (device fails -> someone dies)
have a much larger emotional impact that sins of omission (no device
-> thousands of people who could be saved die).
Fortunately the economic impact is a bit different, so the cost benefit
analysis works out pretty well except for one thing: ludicrous law suits
and awards. Fortunately they are far less common than the press would
have you believe, but they still cause the cost-benefit analysis on the
"sins of commission" side to be overly pessimistic.
However, nobody wants to discuss that because it's ethically
troublesome. Thus, our government stocks anthrax treatments which are
unlikely to save anybody rather than buying flu vaccinations for every
citizen, an action which would save people every year.
Well, once you throw politics in it, you can't expect rational outcomes.
;-) On the business side the playing field is more favourable.
Quality-of-life procedures like Lasik are going to bring this
discussion to the fore. There are long term problems that are caused
by things like Lasik that are either going to get discussed or are
going to wind up in court.
Elective surgery is nothing new, and frankly I think the strategy for
this is perfectly fine: you tell people that there are problems, you
tell them what the problems are and what the chances are, and then you
let them make up their own minds. The courts tend not to have a problem
with this. What they have a problem with is a) lack of full disclosure
or b) cases where someone doesn't really have a choice. The real problem
is a) because, for example, with something like a car, there are just so
many design decisions that could have an impact on safety, it's really
hard to make a list and have a customer go over them all.
And court is a terrible place to have that discussion. See silicone
breast implants, for example.
More like a poorly educated jury with no real training in critical
thinking is a terrible place to have said discussion. I tend to look at
it as one of the few counter balances that keep businesses interested in
the quality of our public school system. ;-)
--Chris
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