posted on 1977-12-01, 00:00authored byLester B Lave
Everyone is appalled at the current system for compensating victims of radiation exposure. The legal system is extremely expensive and time consuming. It gives only a fraction of the total award to those victims lucky enough to get anything* The uncertainty and long lags give little incentive to the employer to prevent future disease. Every scientist's heart should warm at improving the scientific basis of awards. At present, so-called scientific experts contradict each other, often cloaking with scientific legitimacy their speculations or feelings about social justice. The jury cannot help but make an arbitrary judgment, since they have no scientific basis to do otherwise