“I always tell my clients, if you start a big disturbance, you’ll get a bigger compensation package.”

Although not conducted through the legal system, some battles in China over alleged injury from medical malpractice make for an interesting compare-and-contrast exercise, right down to the role of contingent fees:

Medical personnel advocates complain that the more violent incidents are staged by hired thugs, paid by families of the deceased in hopes of winning compensation from the hospitals. … The Chinese have even coined a word for the paid protesters: yinao, meaning “medical disturbance.”

“It has become a very sophisticated system for chasing profits. Whenever somebody dies in a hospital, the yinao will get in touch with the family and offer their services in exchange for 30% to 40%,” said Liu Di, who is setting up a social network for medical professionals.

[L.A. Times]

2 Comments

  • Is their system really so different from ours?

    I especially like the contingency fees for the rental thugs.

  • In jury selection, part of my standard comments regarding the justice system is that the courthouse is a substitute for vigilante justice. Without you, the jurors, we would have anarchy with people taking matters into their own hands.

    That article is a perfect example.