Very sad trial.

I was excused from jury duty today for a variety of reasons. Now that I will not be serving, I can talk about it. A baby was born premature and the parents were suing the Dr and hospital for wrongful death. His lungs were underdeveloped, they mentioned brain bleeds, lung disease and feeding tubes. He was in the neo icu for 45 days when he died. It was hinted at that the baby didn't have a strong chance of living and that the hospital staff didn't have much hope for him so they neglected him.

Some of the questions that played a part in me being released was:
Q. Did I have anyone close to me who had a complicated pregnancy or a baby that had been on a feeding tube?
A. My granddaughter was on a feeding tube for about a month after she was born because her lungs were not fully developed and she had a whole in one lung and in her heart.
Q. Do you know any nurses?
A. Yes...8.
Q. Do you know any police officers? (The father of the baby is a cop.)
A. Yes...2 still on the force and 2 retired, one of them my brother.
Q. Were you ever a part of a lawsuit?
A. Yes...I had to give a deposition and testify in a wrongful death case for my brother-in-law's death...a heart attack at the age of 34. I worked with him at the time. Since he had the heart attack at work, I went to the hospital with him. He was misdiagnosed and later died.

After the lawyer for the plaintiff questioned me, she said she approved of me as a juror. I was surprised at that after hearing that I know so many nurses. When it was time for the lawyer for the Dr to question me, he stood and asked that I be released as a witness. Probably because of the combination of the first and last 2 questions. They probably thought I would be too simpathetic and side with the family.

I was really on the fence with this. I felt like I was obliged to do it but at the same time, I worried it might be too emotional and touch too close to home. I also was worried about work. They expected the trial to last at least 2 weeks and very likely into the third week. That would put me in a very bad situation at work. I'm glad I will not have to serve. I can't imagine I would ever have to serve in a criminal case since I have been a victim in one way or another of so many crimes.

Jury Duty

Today was a long day. We have two courthouses in our county. After an hour, they discovered that there was a glitch in the call in phone system and that there were not enough jurors at the old courthouse so they called 11 names to go to the courthouse in the next town. A half hour later they called 11 more to go to the other courthouse...I was one of them. After asking us questions as a group, they took each one of us into a room and we were interviewed by the judge and both sides. At about four o'clock they brought everyone back into the courtroom and started questioning four at a time. At about five o'clock they had only got through five of the 62 and decided to keep 10 jurors and sent the rest of us home and asked us to come back at 7:45 tomorrow. This trial could last 2-3 weeks. I hope I am not chosen. I would have trouble getting my end of month done. My boss was turned off of all billing software so she only has read only privileges. I am the only one at this point that has access to billing for our department. I will have to work after court and on weekends. That doesn't sound like fun. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Jury duty

I'm just sitting at the court house waiting for my name to be called to see if I have to serve on a trial. If I do, I hope it's interesting.

1st ride of the year!

We got out on the bikes today. It was cold but good.

My bike is ready for riding!

I was having some problems last summer with my bike cutting out on me as I was riding and not wanting to start again. Then it would run good for a couple weeks and start acting up again. Sometimes I would turn the key and nothing, turn the key back to off and try again and she would fire right up.

Rich found the problem, He started testing parts and found one that showed nothing on the meter. Now if the weather would just get nice enough to ride. Tomorrow is suppose to be 60 with showers and Sunday is suppose to be high 50's and sun. We'll see if it turns out that way.

Tomorrow's my B-day and I can think of nothing better to do.