Baseball is a very unpredictable and difficult game. Its frustrating nature can be seen even during a meaningless and somewhat cheesy event such as the Home Run Derby, when the game’s most dependable sluggers are fed a steady diet of batting practice pitches by pitchers of their own choosing and then get to swing at only the pitches they like. Last year, we saw Yankee second-baseman Robinson Cano launch home run after home run deep into the bleachers and beyond, winning the contest.

The unspeakably tragic case of Rory Staunton will, in my opinion, soon demonstrate both the positive and negative aspects of New York’s medical malpractice laws. Rory was a lively 12 year-old boy, who cut his arm while diving for a basketball on a gym floor. Within three days, he was dead from septic shock, after the doctors and staff at NYU Medical Center failed to appreciate the significance of the lab work that should have told them that Rory was in serious trouble as a result of bacteria that infected his wound.