Italian courts sure are tough! (re: earthquake prediction)

[DrJay]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/23/world/eur ... ?hpt=hp_t3

[gh]

the actually translation is, "Italian courts sure are ignorant and ill-informed"

[odelltrclan]

Wow, that is stunning! Is idiots a strong enough word? Good luck having any of these types of scientists soon in Italy's future. The current ones? There going to be warning about everything in sight.

[Pego]

How absurd!

[Conor Dary]

It is pretty bizarre. Lunacy on the loose. What else is new in Italy?

[DrJay]

the actually translation is, "Italian courts sure are ignorant and ill-informed"

I was paraphrasing Gene Wilder, though he used the word "strict" instead of "tough", but the absurdity was about the same.

[DrJay]

Wow, that is stunning! Is idiots a strong enough word? Good luck having any of these types of scientists soon in Italy's future. The current ones? There going to be warning about everything in sight.

Maybe they can redeem themselves by predicting the next solar eclipse....

[lonewolf]

Sure earthquakes can be predicted.. just not when and where..

But, seriously, it is difficult/impossible to comprehend such abysmal ignorance..

[Conor Dary]

Frankly I think the pols are just trying to change the subject from Italy's piss poor economic conditions.

[kuha]

While it doesn't need to be said again, I will: utterly idiotic and indefensible decision. By that measure--failing to exactly predict the future--every economist, politician, weather forecaster, investment counselor,....in truth, every human on the planet...is equally "guilty."

[26mi235]

I think that there are a lot of financial things afoot here. They can now may get a lot of compensation and putting the locals in charge of making a decision that will benefit them is not a good recommendation for a neutral incentive system. The verdict has to survive two rounds of appeal involving somewhat more neutral parties, probably including some who see that the implications of this 'decision' are catastrophic for getting expert advice. I also suspect that they may enact some legislation to address the issue. Hard to get people to be sympathetic enough to help out economically when such decisions are made.

[j-a-m]

Wow, that is stunning! Is idiots a strong enough word? Good luck having any of these types of scientists soon in Italy's future. The current ones? There going to be warning about everything in sight.

Exactly, this is disastrous both for the individuals persecuted this time, and with respect to the consequences.

Good scientists are going to avoid any predictions at all; and the mediocre scientists that replace them are just going to keep warning people every time there might be a slight probability of something.

[Daisy]

How many times will we be evacuating the eastern seaboard in the near future?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-yynx_CXBM

[catson52]

Wow, that is stunning! Is idiots a strong enough word? Good luck having any of these types of scientists soon in Italy's future. The current ones? There going to be warning about everything in sight.

Exactly, this is disastrous both for the individuals persecuted this time, and with respect to the consequences.

Good scientists are going to avoid any predictions at all; and the mediocre scientists that replace them are just going to keep warning people every time there might be a slight probability of something.

It has often been suggested that the rulings of a self appointed court in the early 1600s, led to the focus of science shifting from southern Europe (Galileo) to more northern climes (Huygens, Newton).

[polevaultpower]

Apparently they also ruled that the MMR causes autism http://weeksmd.com/2012/06/vaccine-and- ... onnection/

[Pego]

Apparently they also ruled that the MMR causes autism http://weeksmd.com/2012/06/vaccine-and- ... onnection/

This reminds me of a case in Philadelphia in (I believe) in the nineties. A baby was born with a chromosomal abnormality. The family sued the obstetrician and in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the jury still ruled for the plaintiff.

[polevaultpower]

This reminds me of a case in Philadelphia in (I believe) in the nineties. A baby was born with a chromosomal abnormality. The family sued the obstetrician and in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the jury still ruled for the plaintiff.

Within the past few months, a family in Oregon filed a "wrongful birth suit." Their daughter was born with Down Syndrome, and the prenatal screening at missed it. They testified that they would have aborted her if they had known.

I don't know what's wrong with people sometimes. You can give a baby up for adoption, even one with problems. That seems a far better alternative than testifying that you wish you had killed them

I think they won the suit.

[DrJay]

Recent article on medical malpractice, can't recall where I saw it, says since cases that actually go to trial take so long (24-30 months start to finish), many neurosurgeons, being in a high-risk specialty, spend some 30% of their careers with pending malpractice litigation.

[26mi235]

Of those cases filed, how many go to trial, what is the win/loss ratio? (And what is the real disposition of those that do not, paying a 'large' by most people standards to reduce the risk of a bad but costly decision make this tricky?)

[Tuariki]

I think GH should be prosecuted and jailed for 6 years for getting some of his Olympic predictions wrong. I think it is absolutely outrageous that GH should be able to get away with his failures given that there is a greater chance to get Olympic predictions right than an earthquake prediction.

[gh]

new growth industry in Italy: personal-injury lawyers?

Italian court has ruled that a guy's brain tumor came from his cell phone.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/It ... 013849.php