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In an ambulance speeding through Staten Island, a patient began tending to his own needs. He unbuckled the straps of the gurney on which he lay, and opened the doors of the moving vehicle. The patient, Yaugeni Kralkin, then jumped out, tumbling onto the asphalt and falling unconscious. On Friday, Mr. Kralkin, 56, filed suit in State Supreme Court on Staten Island against the city, the Fire Department and the four emergency medical workers who were administering to him that night last June.
Mr. Kralkin has accused the workers of failing in their duties, saying they did not stop him from exiting the ambulance and are thus responsible for the injuries he sustained hitting the pavement on Richmond Avenue. The seemingly strange assignation of blame hinges on one point: Mr. Kralkin was incredibly drunk, with a blood-alcohol level so high he was unaware of his actions, he says, even as he unbuckled straps and ultimately dived from the vehicle, according to his lawyer. The emergency medical workers failed in their duty to protect him, the lawsuit contends, even from himself, in his inebriated state — attributed to a bottle of cognac.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/nyregion/ambulance-jumper-lawsuit.html
Eat pavement, imo.
Now, as to the overall point, different states treat situations in which an individual does things that contribute to a result they later claim is up to the negligence of another differently. I'm not getting into that. What I intend to say is that I'm not sure I even want to see this suit go beyond the motion to dismiss state.
I tend to think that while I fully support things like drug decriminalization (or legalization, depending on the drug), that comes with a price: you put something yourself, you assume complete responsibility for anything you might try to later claim was a result of what you ingested.*
Shoot what you think is heroin and die? Not the dealer's fault. Your fault. You stuck a needle in your arm. I still pity you. I want help to be available. But at some point, you decided that occasionally snorting a bit of whatever just wasn't doing it, and you needed to fly. So you stuck a needle in your arm. Then another and another and another. Say what you want about genetics, but that really is just YOUR fault.
Get stoned and eat two pizzas? Sleep it off, you silly cow.
Take too much acid, flip out, and smash up a store whilst naked? Don't take so much acid if you can't hold your ****.
Get drunk and jump out of an ambulance? Maybe you should not have guzzled a fifth of hard liquor. Maybe every last thing that occurred is the precise and direct result of your inability to control yourself.
*Ok, we might postulate some caveats for people who are, say, mentally retarded and break into someone's liquor cabinet or whatever. Not talking about that.
Know yourself. Act accordingly.
Mr. Kralkin has accused the workers of failing in their duties, saying they did not stop him from exiting the ambulance and are thus responsible for the injuries he sustained hitting the pavement on Richmond Avenue. The seemingly strange assignation of blame hinges on one point: Mr. Kralkin was incredibly drunk, with a blood-alcohol level so high he was unaware of his actions, he says, even as he unbuckled straps and ultimately dived from the vehicle, according to his lawyer. The emergency medical workers failed in their duty to protect him, the lawsuit contends, even from himself, in his inebriated state — attributed to a bottle of cognac.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/19/nyregion/ambulance-jumper-lawsuit.html
Eat pavement, imo.
Now, as to the overall point, different states treat situations in which an individual does things that contribute to a result they later claim is up to the negligence of another differently. I'm not getting into that. What I intend to say is that I'm not sure I even want to see this suit go beyond the motion to dismiss state.
I tend to think that while I fully support things like drug decriminalization (or legalization, depending on the drug), that comes with a price: you put something yourself, you assume complete responsibility for anything you might try to later claim was a result of what you ingested.*
Shoot what you think is heroin and die? Not the dealer's fault. Your fault. You stuck a needle in your arm. I still pity you. I want help to be available. But at some point, you decided that occasionally snorting a bit of whatever just wasn't doing it, and you needed to fly. So you stuck a needle in your arm. Then another and another and another. Say what you want about genetics, but that really is just YOUR fault.
Get stoned and eat two pizzas? Sleep it off, you silly cow.
Take too much acid, flip out, and smash up a store whilst naked? Don't take so much acid if you can't hold your ****.
Get drunk and jump out of an ambulance? Maybe you should not have guzzled a fifth of hard liquor. Maybe every last thing that occurred is the precise and direct result of your inability to control yourself.
*Ok, we might postulate some caveats for people who are, say, mentally retarded and break into someone's liquor cabinet or whatever. Not talking about that.
Know yourself. Act accordingly.