Re: RC: Cause and Effect

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/2/99 9:27:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
karen@chaton.gardnerville.nv.us writes:

<<  I felt that as an official representative of the WST (Tev Sweep rider) 
that this was not appropriate for her to discuss such a serious issue in a 
public forum like Ridecamp.  As a licensed EMT I also did not think it very 
ethical (or legal?) for the name of the injured party and info on her 
injuries to be announced publicly either.  This is a pretty serious incident, 
and I feel it's not something that should be discussed on Ridecamp. >>

The ethics and legality of announcing an injured party's name are relative to 
notification of those who need to know.  In this case, Debby's husband was on 
the ride, and by all accounts, was aware (or made aware) of the situation.  
Beyond that, the announcing of her name was news.  No different than what 
journalists report in your newspaper every day.  In fact, you can not only 
open your newspaper to find the names of who was killed or injured in a car 
wreck, you can likely also read the hospital notes in the same paper, and see 
where they lived or died in the hospital.  Just because we are endurance 
riders, we are not immune to the norms of journalism.  I consider Debby to be 
a friend, and quite frankly, although I am horrified at what happened, I am 
glad for the reporting, as I'm sure it enabled many of her friends, myself 
included, to keep her in our thoughts and prayers as the day went on.

As to the discussion of the issue of out-of-control horses--far better to 
discuss it here  in a public forum as a general problem (Lord knows it occurs 
all over the place) than by private gossip, IMO.

Heidi


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