This is not the first time I’ve seen this: Our fear of litigation or making people mad allows someone to die.

Lawsuit filed over death of 4 year old drowning victim

The family of a four year old boy who drowned at Wilderness Hotel and Golf Resort in Lake Delton Wisconsin has filed suit against the resort. The boy was swimming in the pool allegedly noticed by the lifeguards but not rescued. Allegedly the boy was not rescued because the supervisor said not to. The quote in the article “guests get angry when lifeguards enter the pool for non-emergency situations” was the reason the boy was not rescued.

Many years ago, and I can’t find a citation to it, a lawsuit was filed over the death of an employee when the supervisor prevented co-workers from performing CPR.

Are we so afraid of litigation that we can’t react to save someone or are we so “dialed” into customer service that allowing someone to die is better than making our customers mad.

Probably a stupid supervisor did not understand the situation and a young lifeguard is feeling guilt.
Two issues jump out here. The first is watch who says what when an accident occurs. The media is effective at finding the scared, the talkative or the person with the worst thing to say. As Jeff Foxworthy always says, after a tornado the media always finds the lady in the mow maw with curlers in her hair who starts off with “oh mygod it was awwwwwfffffulllll!”

Eliminate those people two ways. Train your staff on what do in an emergency and what to do after one. Second appoint one person to be the voice of the organization and make sure everyone knows that one person is the voice.

Second. Don’t’ hire stupid people.

See Wrongful death lawsuit filed in drowning at Wilderness Hotel

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