History Main / LethalNegligence

The [[SevenDeadlySins sin of]] {{sloth}} is generally considered one of the lighter sins, as laziness isn't ''immediately'' harmful the same way other sins are. However, sometimes inaction can be just as harmful as actively hurting people, especially if a person has a responsibility to ensure someone else's safety.

# People in positions of authority (e.g. police officers, politicians, firefighters) [[ComesGreatResponsibility have a responsibility to use their power for their citizens' safety]], so neglecting said responsibility in favor of exploiting the privileges can inevitably lead to the people they are responsible for taking care of being harmed.

{{Supertrope}} to ForgotToFeedTheMonster. Compare LethallyStupid and LethalKlutz. If the negligent person is an adult, it is also a case of AdultsAreUseless, or PoliceAreUseless if the person is a police officer. A SurveillanceStationSlacker can potentially be responsible for this. Can overlap with an AccidentalChildKillerBackstory if the death was caused by negligence. Compare/Contrast MurderByInaction, where a character deliberately allows someone to die by not saving them.

* In the ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'' web-short/music video "Let You Down", Sasha Yakovleva, the previous netrunner on Maine's crew, learns during a netrun on Biotechnica to steal some valuable data that the corp had deliberately withheld information about a prescription painkiller called Securicine which had led to her mother's death by neurodegeneration. Biotechnica had known all along about the deadly side effects, but refused to fix them or disclose them to the public, resulting in Sasha deciding to give her life to expose their coverup to the press.
* ''Anime/ExcelSaga'': Excel's first day on the job guiding traffic at a construction site results in multiple people being killed because her [[GenkiGirl hyperactive lack of focus]] caused a catastrophe. A horrified Excel tries to deny any wrongdoing, but a caption on the screen points out that she committed "Technical manslaughter by professional negligence."
* ''Anime/HellGirl'': "[[Recap/HellGirlS1E4SilentCries Silent Cries]]" has [[MonsterOfTheWeek Yoshiyuki Honjou]], a neglectful veterinarian who's responsible for the deaths of many pets, including [[VictimOfTheWeek Junko Kanno's]] pet dog Candy. When Junko finds out the truth, her attempts to gain evidence fail as Yoshiyuki gloats that [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections he has the connections to get away with it]]. When Junko pulls the string and has him sentenced to Hell, the Hell Correspondence gives him a taste of his own medicine by crashing his car, breaking his leg, taking him to an illusory hospital, and ignoring his pleas for treatment just like how he ignored the animals he was supposed to take care of.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhSeason0'': One VillainOfTheWeek was [[DrJerk Dr. Goyu]], who cared more about playing golf than caring for his patients, to the point where [[IndirectSerialKiller fifteen people died under his "care"]]. Fortunately, Yugi manages to [[EngineeredPublicConfession trick him into confessing his crimes]], and he gets fired.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'', after [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Peter Parker]] gains superpowers from a radioactive spider bite, he uses these newfound abilities to earn money through wrestling and television. However, the fame goes to his head, and in his vanity, Peter doesn't bother to stop a robber fleeing the studio. Consequently, the robber escapes and in a later burglary he kills Peter's kindly Uncle Ben. Peter is devastated to learn that a good man has been murdered as a result of his inaction, and pledges from now on to use his powers for the betterment of his city.
-->''And a lean, silent figure slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, '''with great power, there must also come--great responsibility!'''''

* ''Film/Alien3'': "Dr." Clemens was stripped off his medical license because he was called in to administer aid after a large industrial accident but caused several more deaths because he prescribed the wrong doses of painkillers while he was high on morphine. Fiorina is the only company planet that will still accept him since Weyland-Yutani isn't interested in giving the remaining prisoners there anything more than the absolute minimum of medical care.

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': Julie is a LazyBum of a secretary and this has dangerous consequences in "[[Recap/TheBrittasEmpireS6E6MrBrittasFallsInLove Mr. Brittas Falls In Love]]" when she fails to properly keep track of Tim wanting shark steaks ordered and Brittas wanting a dolphin ordered in for Dolphin Day. The result is a shark placed in the pool of the centre, a young girl feared to have been eaten by it, and a lot of people intending to sue the centre after the fact.
* This trope often occurs in ''Series/DisastersAtSea'', with examples like the ''Marine Electric'' and ''Andrew J. Barberi'', which are noted in further detail under "Real Life."
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode "Profiteer", the victim of the week was an executive at a body-armor company that sent a shipment of defective body armor to soldiers in Iraq. After securing a confession from the shooter, the DA's office decides to go after the company for negligent homicide in the death of the shooter's friend, who got stuck with one of the defective vests.

** Season 2's [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS2E11Abuse "Abuse,"]] which involves a celebrity couple who emotionally neglect their children. SVU becomes involved when the older child is killed after running into traffic, after the parents lost track of him at his own birthday party. The rest of the episode revolves around the younger daughter, who engages in self-harm to get their attention. The episode ends without resolving this issue or the neglect, leaving lingering concern that the daughter will one day go too far in her efforts to get the attention she craves.
** Season 4’s [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS4E12Risk “Risk,”]] which involves smuggled cocaine in baby formula. A couple posing as a loving family with an infant are trafficking it from south of the border, and when their housekeeper takes the wrong can out of desperation, her child dies from the tainted milk.
** Season 5’s [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS5E2Manic “Manic,”]] which ends with a pharmaceutical company being sued for sending unregulated samples through the mail that induced psychosis in a teenager who later brought a gun to school and killed two classmates.
** Season 10’s [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS10E5Retro “Retro,”]] in which a case about a baby with untreated AIDS uncovers a quack doctor who is an AIDS-denialist; he is put on trial after it’s uncovered that his influence led to the death of another child, whose mother did not get her tested or treated.
** Season 10’s [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS10E15Lead “Lead,”]] which is similar to “Manic” in which a toy company is sued over using illegal leaded paint on their toys. A young man who killed a local doctor accused of molesting his patients had acquired a lead-exposure developmental disability after playing with and mouthing the toys as a child.
** Season 17’s [[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS17E4InstitutionalFail “Institutional Fail,”]] in which a child dies despite being under the purview of Child and Family Services, who were found to be faking records of visits to keep up with their overwhelming caseload.

* One MonsterOfTheWeek in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge'' had the power to make people lazy, which she managed to use on all but one of the Rangers, making them too lazy to fight. She was originally [[SealedEvilInACan sealed inside a cave by]] [[HandsomeHeroicCaveman Koda's]] father, as her powers made his tribe too lazy to hunt, only for Koda to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally free it]].
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': The disaster that wiped out all but one of the crew was caused by Rimmer improperly fixing the ship's drive plate, causing a lethal radiation leak. In "Justice", this act is referred to as "willful negligence" on Rimmer's part.

* In the short Flash game ''VideoGame/{{Reincarnation}}: Loving Every Evil Triumph'', the nameless Reincarny that Vile, the demon protagonist of the series, has to deal with has gotten so engrossed in his gaming that he's neglected to feed his cat Meowxis, causing him to starve to death. Needless to say, this is what prompts Vile to send him back to Hell.

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ5OWCwRjko&pp=ygUaZXRyYSBjaGFuIHNhdyBpdCBuZWdsZWN0ZWQ%3D Akane]] was an extremely [[ParentalNeglect neglectful mother]] who would take advantage of her husband's long work hours to party with men all day, leaving her own children alone. In addition, she was too lazy to clean the house, meaning her children lived in filth, and she would sometimes lock her own children out of the house, even during winter, when she had a man over. One day, [[ParentalAbandonment she abandoned her kids]], who were adopted by their much kinder uncle and wife. Years later, after her kids have grown up, she decides to come see them again...[[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk because she needs money]]. Her kids [[CallingTheOldManOut tell her off]] and [[DisownedParent abandon her]] [[TheDogBitesBack as payback]].

* ''WebAnimation/TroubleBusters'': [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pMQb63ENfFI&pp=ygUUdHJvdWJsZSBidXN0ZXJzIGJhYmg%3D Rose]] is a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful mother]] who tries to threaten Helen into watching her daughter for her, which Helen refuses every time. In order to try and force Helen to make her watch her daughter while she can goes overseas to have an affair, she lies to her husband, Andrew, that she gave the baby to Helen ''breaks Helen's car window, tosses the baby inside the car, '''[[FromBadToWorse in the middle of the summer]]''''', knowing that if she were overseas, Helen would have no choice but to watch her baby for her. Unfortunately, Helen and her husband Alan are also overseas, meaning that the baby has been trapped in a hot car for ''five days''. When [[AbusiveParent Rose]] learns this she insists that Helen and Alan go back and rescue the baby so [[ItsAllAboutMe she can enjoy her vacation]], and hangs up. Fortunately, Helen calls her mom, who takes the baby to the hospital before any permanent damage happens and Rose is [[LaserGuidedKarma is punished by]] [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine being locked in a car for an entire month]] by [[PapaWolf Andrew]].

[[folder:Web Original]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': In "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS8E6Drones Drones]]", the drone soldier leaves his station so he can enjoy cake and ice cream with the rest of the crew [[DidntThinkThisThrough but doesn't even bother to have it locked to keep out trespassers]]. Accordingly, Beavis and Butt-Head manage to break in and gain access to the drones, creating widespread havoc. He doesn't return to the station until ''after'' the duo had already left; [[LaserGuidedKarma he gets arrested at the scene]].

** In [[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E1DeathHasAShadow "Death Has a Shadow"]], Peter is fired from the toy factory he works at when his sleeping on the job allows several dangerous products to make it to shipping and endanger customers.
** PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E14PTV PTV]]." One CutawayGag shows Peter babysitting the neighbor's young child, leaving him unattended in an overfilled bathtub surrounded by plugged-in appliances, prescription medications, and a bottle of drain cleaner, then turning off the bathroom lights.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': "That's Life!" revealed that whenever Timmy went to summer camp, his parents would forget to feed whatever pet he had at the time, resulting in them all dying. His parents would proceed to bury them and [[DogGotSentToAFarm tell Timmy they simply ran away]].
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'': In "[[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS2E21Lax Lax]]", the titular experiment's main function is [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope: he shoots beams that make people [[LazyBum lazy]] and completely apathetic to everything, mostly their work, which would make civilizations collapse as a result ([[NoSell it doesn't work on Gretchen because she finds her work relaxing]]).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittles'': In "The Little Babysitters", Henry agrees to take a babysitting job, but then is invited to go play football in a field nearby with some of his friends. He decides to leave the infant in the care of his friends, the titular Littles. Grandpa Little tries to warn him that this is a very bad idea and that he needs to take responsibility. A fire starts in the house due to the baby pulling on an electrical cord to a game, and the child is only prevented from receiving serious harm by the quick thinking of the Little family.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Listing all the times Homer's laziness has endangered his family, not to mention all of Springfield (being safety inspector of the nuclear plant and all), would fill up this whole page and then some. Perhaps the most egregious example is "King Size Homer", where he willingly makes himself morbidly obese so he can qualify for disability and work at home -- [[LaboriousLaziness all so he could avoid morning calisthenics at the plant]]. Naturally, he slacks off and neglects to vent pent-up gas from the nuclear core, which would have led to a catastrophic explosion had he not gone to the plant to shut it off manually. [[spoiler:Which he never gets to do before falling into the tank just as it ruptures, his fatter-than-usual body blocking the deadly gas]].

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'', after [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Peter Parker]] gains superpowers from a radioactive spider bite, he uses these newfound abilities to earn money through wrestling and television. However, the fame goes to his head, and in his vanity, Peter doesn't bother to stop a robber fleeing the studio. Consequently, the robber escapes and in a later burglary he kills Peter's kindly Uncle Ben. Peter is devastated to learn that a good man has been murdered as a result of his inaction, and pledges from now on to use his powers for the betterment of his city.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhSeason0'': One VillainOfTheWeek was a [[DrJerk lazy doctor]] who cared more about playing golf than caring for his patients, to the point where [[IndirectSerialKiller fifteen people died under his "care"]]. Fortunately, Yugi manages to [[EngineeredPublicConfession trick him into confessing his crimes]], and he gets fired.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Listing all the times Homer's laziness has endangered his family, not to mention all of Springfield (being safety inspector of the nuclear plant and all) would fill up this whole page and then some. Perhaps the most egregious example is "King Size Homer", where he willingly makes himself morbidly obese so he can qualify for disability and work at home -- [[LaboriousLaziness all so he could avoid morning calisthenics at the plant]]. Naturally, he slacks off and neglects to vent pent-up gas from the nuclear core, which would have led to a catastrophic explosion had he not gone to the plant to shut it off manually. [[spoiler:Which he never gets to do before falling into the tank just as it ruptures, his fatter-than-usual body blocking the deadly gas]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'': Mark Beaks, being very AmbitiousButLazy, ends up endangering the lives of others and [[TooDumbToLive himself]] as a result of his negligence in fixing and double-checking the inventions he steals.

* ''WesternAnimation/Ducktales2017'': Mark Beaks, being BrilliantButLazy as he is, ends up endangering the lives of others and [[TooDumbToLive himself]] as a result of his negligence in fixing and double-checking the inventions he steals.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': In "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS8E6Drones Drones]]", the drone monitor leaves his station so he can enjoy cake and ice cream with the rest of the crew [[DidntThinkThisThrough but doesn't even bother to have it locked to keep out trespassers]]. Accordingly, Beavis and Butt-Head manage to break in and gain access to the drones, creating widespread havoc. He doesn't return to the station until ''after'' the duo had already left; [[LaserGuidedKarma he gets arrested at the scene]].

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'''s origin story, as first told in ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'', is set off by an act of negligence. After [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Peter Parker]] gains superpowers from a radioactive spider bite, he uses these newfound abilities to earn money through wrestling and television. However, the fame goes to his head, and in his vanity, Peter doesn't bother to stop a robber fleeing the studio. Consequently, the robber escapes and in a later burglary he kills Peter's kindly Uncle Ben. Peter is devastated to learn that a good man has been murdered as a result of his inaction, and pledges from now on to use his powers for the betterment of his city.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': In "[[Recap/BeavisAndButtheadS8E6Drones Drones]]", the drone monitor leaves his station so he can enjoy cake and ice cream with the rest of the crew [[DidntThinkThisThrough but doesn't even bother to have it locked to keep out trespassers]]. Accordingly, the titular characters manage to break in and gain access to the drones, creating widespread havoc. He doesn't return to the station until ''after'' the duo had already left; [[LaserGuidedKarma he gets arrested at the scene]].

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b-v4wtzL3o8 Akamatsu]] is a LazyHusband who is on thin ice with his wife Yuzuriha for cheating on her on top of his neglect of household chores and care for his son Kuroki. One day, when Akamatsu is out with Kuroki, he leaves him roaming in the streets in order to go drinking and cheating with a hostess. Yuzuriha and her parents are naturally [[AdultFear horrified that Kuroki was lost]], and angered at Akamatsu for abandoning him. Worse, Akamatsu tries to "justify" himself by claiming that it was fine since Japan is a safe country and that [[NeverMyFault the woman he was cheating with was at fault for making him cheat]]. Naturally, neither Yuzuriha nor her parents buy his excuses, causing him to get divorced and [[IHaveNoSon disowned]].

* When the Staten Island Ferry ''Andrew J. Barberi'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Staten_Island_Ferry_crash collided with a maintenance pier in 2003]], killing eleven people, it was found that there were layers of this trope in play.

* When the Staten Island Ferry ''Andrew J. Barberi'' [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Staten_Island_Ferry_crash collided with a maintenance pier in 2003]], it was found that there were layers of this trope in play.

** Additionally, the policy on the Staten Island Ferry was to have both the Captain and Assistant Captain in the same pilothouse during docking, so the ''Barberi'''s Captain, Micheal J. Gansas, should have been in a position to intervene when Smith blacked out. However, it turned out that this policy was usually flouted by crews to save time on the turnaround in port. As a result, Captain Gansas was in the other pilothouse at the opposite end of the ship.

* This trope often occurs in ''Series/DisastersAtSea''. One notable example being the ''Marine Electric'', which is noted in further detail under "Real Life."

* In 1983, the bulk carrier ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Marine_Electric Marine Electric]]'' sank off the coast of Virginia, with the loss of all but three of her 34 crew. In the subsequent investigation, it was found that the ship's penny-pinching owners had allowed the ship to decay to unseaworthy condition. Hatch covers had deteriorated past the point they should have been replaced, and were repaired using second-rate materials that were only meant to be used as stopgaps. It got to the point where gaping holes in the deck were simply circled so that no one tripped over them. But there was another layer of this trope in play, as the reason this was allowed to happen was because the agencies responsible for inspecting the ship rushed their inspections.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': "That's Life!" revealed that whenever Timmy went to summer camp, his parents would forget to feed whatever pet he had at the time, resulting in them all dying. His parents would proceed to bury them and tell Timmy they simply ran away.

* In the ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'' web-short/music video "Let You Down", Sasha Yakovleva, the previous netrunner on Maine's crew, learns during a netrun on Biotechnica to steal some valuable data that the corp had deliberately withheld information about a prescription painkiller called Securicine which had led to her mother's death by neurodegeneration. Biotechnica had known all along about the side effects, but refused to fix them or disclose them to the public, resulting in Sasha deciding to give her life to expose their coverup to the press.

* In the ''Anime/CyberpunkEdgerunners'' web-short "Let You Down", Sasha Yakovleva, the previous netrunner on Maine's crew, learns during a netrun on Biotechnica to steal some valuable data that the corp had deliberately withheld information about a prescription painkiller called Securicine which had led to her mother's death by neurodegeneration. Biotechnica had known all along about the side effects, but refused to fix them or disclose them to the public, resulting in Sasha deciding to give her life to expose their coverup to the press.