I saw an elderly woman crossing into a grocery store, and rather than help her, I just walked faster and pretended not to notice. It's not my duty to help her get inside, and people will stop for her. After talking to A.A. about the legalities of proffering help as a licensed physician at an accident, he and I came to the conclusion that he was better off not saying anything, due to the possibility of getting sued. The long and short? It's safer and easier to omit an action, to do nothing.
Legally, you can't get in trouble for doing nothing in many cases. Tort law, at it's cold, dark heart, is based on negligence, which relies heavily on causation. If you weren't the cause, you can't be at fault. Morally, you can get in trouble, but morality only ever cost people their souls. The law costs people money, and you can't make more of that. It's a finite quantity.
Think about how much better the world would be if we didn't have to do things for each other, if we could all live in our own little bubbles. This is sort of what happens in New York City, anyway, or on the internet. Our society is gearing up towards severe isolation. Soon as reproduction without contact between the parents becomes a reality, we're all screwed.
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