BRITAIN: The British government vowed to strike back at the UK's growing compensation culture yesterday, which it said was creating a society running scared of the next law suit.
No-win no-fee lawyers and firms who aggressively encourage accident victims to sue - so-called ambulance-chasers - were told to clean up their act or face government regulation. "There is not always someone else to blame," said Constitutional Affairs Secretary Lord Falconer.
"Genuine accidents do happen. The perception that there is easy money just waiting to be had ... creates very real problems."
The fear of being sued is a growing worry to many firms and organisations in Britain, particularly those in the field of health, education and local government.
Many schools, for example, have abandoned the idea of taking pupils on trips and one even went to the extreme this autumn of issuing children with safety goggles to play conkers.
Government advisory body the Better Regulation Task Force, author of a report in May on the compensation culture, welcomed government action.
"Fear of litigation holds back drug companies from launching new products, doctors practise defensive medicine, schools cancel field trips," said chairman Mr David Arculus.
The government is now proposing to discourage legal compensation advertising in hospital waiting rooms and to improve accident rehabilitation in its drive to reduce claims.
Lord Falconer said: "It is in all our interests to create a society where people are confident about taking risks and not running scared of the next law suit."
However, the suggestion that patients are pursuing frivolous claims was scorned by a medical accidents charity. "It is a complete and utter myth to suggest that there is a compensation culture amongst patients," said Action Against Medical Accidents head Mr Peter Walsh.
"People who contact us tend to turn to the law as a last resort." Other claims-reducing measures proposed by the government include encouraging apologies as a means of dispute resolution.
