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New Hampshire Teen Sues School for Failure to Warn Against Dangers of Stupidity

In an effort to titillate and amuse his friends, a New Hampshire teen bared his (admittedly small) breasts in a shocking display of bravado. Having heard about the utility of nipple clamps to enhance the appearance of one's nipples, he attached one clamp from an electrical test set to one of his own nipples whilst one of his friends did the same to the other with the matching clamp. Then, at a prearranged signal, a third friend plugged the arrangement into the mains.

To their surprise, the experiment resulted in stopping the boy's heart, from which unpleasant condition he was amazingly restored to life through the quick thinking of the few sensible people in the classroom. In the lawsuit, the boy and his parents claim that the jolt fried his brain as well, but the school is expected to raise the existence of a pre-existing condition, based on anecdotal evidence that the boy was always something of a dolt.

Comments

Please, please

Please, please don't let this boy reproduce.

Darwin says. "Flunk"!!!
CaroL

CaroL

Brain Damaged Parents.

RAMI

I think this young fool, probably damaged his brains by being raised by his parents. What idiotsthey all are. If this is evidence of the state of teenagers today, pity us all.

I wonder if there is some video game out there from which he learned his stupidity.

RAMI

RAMI

More likely television

If you've ever seen "Jackass," this is pretty much standard fare for the crap they pull on there.

Of course, come to think of it there's a video game based on the show now too, so it might very well be the reason, though video games as a whole should not be blamed -- speaking as a video game geek myself, I can fully assure you that all of my stupidity is my own, and not due to the games I play.

Melanie E.

It was just plain…

…Stupidititty!

Sounds like a RIGHT TIT to me; maybe he should have LEFT TIT alone.

I will now go and hide.

Gabi.


“It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Thomas Hardy—Far from the Madding Crowd.

Gabi.


“It is hard for a woman to define her feelings in language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.” Thomas Hardy—Far from the Madding Crowd.

More On Story

The linked article leaves more questions than answers.

Here's a slightly more detailed version: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/08/31/2010-08-...

And, here's the story from the time of the incident, which clearly impugns the teacher: http://wbztv.com/local/student.shocked.dover.2.1555193.html

With his heart stopped, the issue of blood supply being cut off to the brain is a very real issue, and the electrocuted student was listed in critical condition at the hospital. I can't find a current article evaluating his present level of deficit, but if it is significant, then the family probably doesn't have much recourse other than to sue the school. And, as stupid as the stunt was on the part of the student(s), in their role of in loco parentis the teacher and school bear some supervisory responsibility. Besides, that's why the school board pays the insurance company. Unless they were foolish enough not to have any.

The last link...

Puddintane's picture

...is so vague as to be misleading, I think, unless the other articles were complete fabrications.

I disagree about the loco parentis issue, though, as these boys were evidently long-time electrical students, and ought to have known the dangers inherent in high voltages. This is like saying that if the boy was in ROTC and they'd gone out to a firing range for marksmanship training, the teacher would be at fault if the boy pointed the weapon at his own head and pulled the trigger, because he didn't specifically warn him that a bullet through the brain might kill him.

The fact is that we allow adolescent children to do all sorts of dangerous things, and can usually depend on them to be properly concerned with their own safety. In home economics classes, we have real cookers with real fire or electrical elements -- all of which have the potential to cause serious harm -- but few people stick their heads in the oven and turn on the gas, or decide to sit on a burner to combat the chill.

I suppose a clever lawyer could question the wisdom of conducting the class with anything like mains voltages, though, as a twelve-volt current is perfectly adequate to become familiar with the properties of electrical current, but the fact is that unless you do something incredibly stupid, electricity isn't all that dangerous. If one doesn't deliberately create a path across your heart, or do so through ignoring the precautions that would have been covered on the first day of training, all one will receive from ninety volt current is a jolt, which will teach one to be more careful in future.

The basic rule, aside from never touching an energised wire, which he clearly did deliberately, is never make a current through the heart by touching a circuit with one hand whilst holding or touching any conductive object with any other part of the body. If he'd tried, this guy and his friends couldn't possibly have arranged a more efficient killing apparatus using readily available materials . This is, in fact, the basic principle of an "electric chair" used for judicial execution. One electrode is clamped to the head, another is clamped to one ankle, and the executioner turns on the current.

Because the self-arranged victim had clamped himself to the source of current, the natural convulsive contractions of the muscles, which would usually remove one from contact with the power source, were ineffective.

I personally feel there's a much better case for attempted homicide, probably murder -- since they acted in reckless disregard for the safety of the nearly dead victim, knowing that a fatal outcome was possible -- against both of the two participants who survived this stupid stunt.

The stories of the teacher egging them on sounds like a self-serving lie to me, although it's possible that the town is simply filled with cretins.

Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

-

Cheers,

Puddin'

A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style

Helpful hint...

Kyle, next time you pull a stunt like this, please do the human gene pool a favour and attach the clips to your scrotum...

Let's just hope the judge in this case has an ounce of sense and throws out all three cases.

As for the teacher resigning a month later, chances are that as it was his class, because he wasn't aware of what was going on until it was too late, the powers that be will have "persuaded" him to resign - presumably under threat of dismissal for not maintaining proper control of the class.

 

Bike Resources

There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

Probably Not The Dumbest

This boy will no doubt do much dumber things in his life.

I see daily examples of utter stupidity being rewarded by a legal system designed to protect the wealthy from ever losing their possessions or positions in society.

Children rarely are held accountable to an "assumption of risk".

Here's the dynamic that works in many instances. The insurance company adjuster realizes that his company has issued a policy for the school with $2,000,000 bodily injury limits. The teacher is a complete ass who the adjuster knows the jury will hate on sight. The plaintiff's attorney is getting 40% of the settlement amount and took the case because he knows the average person in his state is disenchanted by the job the education system is doing with the millions in tax dollars funding it.

The adjuster knows that no one in his company will object to him paying a fraction of the $2 million to make the case go away. He offers $50,000. The plaintiff's attorney scoffs and talks about the professional witness he's found who will claim long-term damages and since the plaintiff is young he can run the bill easily to seven figures for lost earnings capability. He counters at $150,000.

The adjuster breaths a sigh of relief and settles for $100,000 and crows to everyone in the company about how he kept the case out of court and avoided the potential of there being a $2 mil loss.

I've been around this stuff for four decades. It isn't the runaway juries and punitive damages that are making our legal system a mockery; it is the pathetic descisions made by insurance companies who lack what many of us don't want. . .a set of balls.

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

Volt Dolt

Angharad's picture

This is perfectly shocking - apart from stopping his heart, what did he hope to prove? I suppose he's burnt his nipples off, which proves nothing.

Angharad

Angharad

Rare

I doubt he even singed his nipples much. It's hard to get much current flowing across skin at only 120 V, not really enough to cook anything, at least not well. Maybe a couple of teensy burn marks. Unfortunately, it doesn't take much to stop a heart.

While I've never stopped my heart, I've been shocked and zapped dozens of times over the years, thanks to my overconfidence when "fixing things." Thank god a) I kept my shirt on, and b) I live in a country with 117 V mains supply instead of 240!

___________________
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