Suing Ourselves

Albert Barnett Ferguson '41 is an orthopedic surgeon, teacher and medical investigator. He analyzes the costs of a litigious society in "The Liability Crisis and How to Solve It" (Claymore Press).

It is startling that 75 percent of the domestic [bicycle] manufacturers have gone out of business in the past eight years .... A head injury suffered while bicycling is now being seen as the fault of the helmet manufacturers. Before the days of helmets, the cyclist assumed a risk when entering a cycling competition .... If the maker of helmets is forced to assume the risk that the competitor took, then his liability insurance is too expensive and he quits the business. This illustrates what is happening everywhere to the manufacturer's, architect's, doctor's, accountant's, and municipality's liability and even at home.