@Jasper: But this is the second best thing, that only gets to work when the best option, political system, fails. And it did because someone died and the government was found negligent.
Well, I will return to observing that, as a practical matter, such lawsuits actually do have very little impact on government policy or priorities, regardless of the outcome. I think you are arguing that they should. I am arguing that because of the high degree of randomness and skewed perspective of juries, it's pretty wise that governments regard these sorts of random payouts just as noise and a drain on public resources but not a very useful indication of where they should set their priorities. I wish it were different but as long as we have the system we have I think it's not likely to change.
