Everquest Suicide and Lawsuit

[Tsyr]

Two factors with the "coffee-cup" thing.

First, the fact that she was warned it was "hot" is not relevent. Likewise irrelivant is how it spilled or if she could have prevented the spill. As noted, the cup went far beyond hot. If she had DRANK that, do you realize what could have happened?

Second, the large settlement was not just because she had to get lots of dough... the problem with megacorps like McDonalds, Microsoft, etc is that any "realistic" amount of money just doesn't matter to them. Heck, I doubt the amount she was payed even made them switch to a cheaper brand of toilet paper in the company bathrooms. They have so much wealth (And this is not a tirade against capitalism, I'm a staunch capitalist myself) that small "realistic" amounts just don't get the message across.

 

[smetzger]

His family and friends should be sued for letting him get to the point where he couldn't distinguish reality from fantasy.

 

[maddman75]

Agree with smetzger - only not sued, criminally prosecuted for child neglect. If allowing your depressed, schizoid child to play a video game for 36 hours straight isn't neglect, what the heck is?

And I think that a lot of people on the McDonalds issue aren't quite clear on what a thrid degree burn is. THis is the skin being burned off, all the way down to muscle or bone. Not the kind of thing that you fix by grabbing a paper towel.

I remember getting McDonald's coffee before this happened, and it was too damn hot. I remember getting a cup and letting it sit in my dash for an HOUR after I'd finished by breakfast before it'd cooled enough to be drinkable. They were reckless and endangered their customers. THey should have been sued, and if something burned my genitals off I'd consider three million to be lousy compensation.

 

[psionotic]

Warning Labels on addictive items..

Yeah, we should sticker everything even remotely addictive, says I. In fact, I think we should make it a law that on every baby's birth, they be given a large, permanent tattoo which says the following:

"Surgeon General's warning: Sexual activity has been proven to be addictive in a large number of individuals. Side effects include venereal disease, unwanted pregnancy, and enhanced intimacy."

 

[hellbender]

.

Suicide is a sad, horrible thing. I don't mean at all to make light of this man's death. But we all know this is nothing more than another modern witch hunt. There have already been lawsuits against D&D, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, and plenty we've never heard of. The simple fact is all (the high profile ones at least) have been dismissed or resolved in favor of the defendants because the evidence is simply not there to prove any wrong doing.

I agree with you totally on this. The sad thing is that the lawyers are seeing dollar signs and the concerned mothers league are seeing their meddling and restrictive habits at work, instead of actually working towards fixing a problem. And I must add that if there are going to be warning labels put on video games, the Bible and the Koran had better be the next on the list as those are the two biggest contributors to violent behaviour that we have on this planet. Anything taken to extremes causes abnormal or irrational behaviour, and to blame a game for someone's actions is ludicrous. Having epilepsy itself can be depressing as a friend of mine committed suicide after hearing that the advance of the disease was taking away his ability to work and to ride his Harley. There are more than likely other factors in this guy's life that lead him to this tragic end.


hellbender

 

[WSmith]

Agree with smetzger - only not sued, criminally prosecuted for child neglect. If allowing your depressed, schizoid child to play a video game for 36 hours straight isn't neglect, what the heck is?

This is a sad story, but the fact is that the kid didn't have to die. His mother should have pulled the plug on the computer before the first 8 seizures he had.

 

[Storm Raven]

Eamon

Two factors with the "coffee-cup" thing.

First, the fact that she was warned it was "hot" is not relevent. Likewise irrelivant is how it spilled or if she could have prevented the spill. As noted, the cup went far beyond hot. If she had DRANK that, do you realize what could have happened?

If I remember correctly though, evidence was introduced on McDonald's side showing that the temperature that they kept their ready-to-serve coffee at was within the range that other restaurants maintained their coffee. I recall that it was at the upper range (180 degrees or so), but within the range given by the various coffee experts who testified as to the acceptable range for restaurant coffee (which was 160-190 degrees if I remember correctly).

I was in law school when the incident occured. I remember reviewing much of the publicly available evidence at the time and determining that she should not have received any compensation on the facts as presented.

 

[Tsyr]

That seems alot like the "If your friend told you to jump off a bridge" bit though, Storm. Just because experts say "thats a decent temperature" doesn't always make it true. Dump 180 degree water on yourself and see what happens, then see if it is too hot

 

[Nareau]

I'm interested to see what people think *should* have happened. Should the mother have forcibly committed her 21 year old son?

What would you do in this situation? Let's assume your lover/friend/sibling/child is playing EverQuest a lot more than you think is healthy. You've talked to them, but they've refused to stop (despite a history of mental illness, seizures, etc.) What do you do?

 

[Tsyr]

I'm interested to see what people think *should* have happened. Should the mother have forcibly committed her 21 year old son?

What would you do in this situation? Let's assume your lover/friend/sibling/child is playing EverQuest a lot more than you think is healthy. You've talked to them, but they've refused to stop (despite a history of mental illness, seizures, etc.) What do you do?

That wouldn't have been a bad idea.

Everything the artical says suggests that he lived in her house. She could simply say "No, not under my roof, you aren't going to play the game that much.". Even at 21 that works... the person is still free to leave home, so it's not deying his rights. But given his condition, it's doubtful he would have left home, so problem solved.

After the FIRST incident she should have done something. Before, if she had reason to believe he shouldn't be playing the game in the first place (and I believe it said something to the effect of him not supposed to play games)