Cause and effect: Are Lawyers that Evil?

At my brother's ceremony yesterday, the guest speaker had some good advice about cause and effect.

He said, don't think that a manager takes extra special care of business because he is a manager; he is manager because he takes extra special care of business.

It still amazes me that some people can't consider alternative cause and effects.

In the Weekend Australian (Health section) today:

Car accident victims may be doing themselves no favours by hiring lawyer - Australian research has found that those who get legal representation take longer to get better. Patients who hired a lawyer were five times less likely to return to work, and 11 times more likely to still be receiving treatment at the end of the year, compared to patients who did not, Medical Observer reported. The South Australian researchers while patients who sought legal help had probably suffered worse injuries - and thus could be expected to take longer to recover - the findings suggested that seeing a lawyer contrubuted to worse outcomes.

Spine 2005;30:386-91

Now, it is good to see at least some intelligence is being used. Yes, those who are more severely injured are more likely to hire a lawyer. Additionally, they might want to consider:

• Those who DON'T get legal representation are less likley to receive a payout, and thus more likley to return to work ASAP
• Those who get legal representation may be instructed not to return to work soon, in case it hurts the case (or to make a case)
• People who use lawyers to get every cent they can for compensation are sad unhappy people, sad unhappy people have been shown to not heal that fast
• People who get lawyers may get more money (or have it in the first place - or have insurance for these things), and therefore actually be able ongoing treatment.

The study seems to assume that by starting back at work, or by ending treatment, someone is now "better". If I could afford it, I'd visit a doctor every week (and a dentist, a chiropractor, and a therapist) and I'd reccomend anyone who coudl actually afford it to do so.

I seriously doubt that, as annoying and depressing some lawyers can be (luckily I've only met nice ones*), I doubt they actually induce people's ailments to prolong themselves with some sort of malevolent miasma (--some big words there).

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The Weekend Australian Magazine also has some nice healthy info on quitting unhealthy habits. And that no matter ho long you've been doing it, you'd still be better off without it:

1. Smoking
2. Drinking
3. Recreational Drugs
4. Poor Diet
5. Lack of Exercise
6. Sun Exposure
7. Poor posture and habits leading to back pain
8. Caffiene (one of my favourite things to denounce as evil)
   

*one is even a injury compensation lawyer

PS - What is with all the Penis Injuries in the News?

TAGGED : these seem the "next big thing" - much better than RSS, IMHO
news*health*science*thoughts*statistics*in the news