Jury Duty in Med School?

[ESzczesniak]

Well, through whatever luck, I got a jury duty notice for the third week of my first year at med school. I am sure I'm not the only person who has had this happen. What have others done? I've heard claims I get out of it if I am a student, but that seems doubtful. Any help would be appreciated. I would particularly like to get out of it since I got assigned downtown Chicago which has a reputation for getting assigned to cases that last a week or two and that seems like a lot of med school to miss. Thanks for your help.

Eric

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[OnMyWayThere]

Our dean of student affairs takes care of those for us... I guess she provides a letter stating that you're a med student and asks that your'e excused from jury duty. Thats what my classmates have done and it worked out.

 

[Law2Doc]

Well, through whatever luck, I got a jury duty notice for the third week of my first year at med school. I am sure I'm not the only person who has had this happen. What have others done? I've heard claims I get out of it if I am a student, but that seems doubtful. Any help would be appreciated. I would particularly like to get out of it since I got assigned downtown Chicago which has a reputation for getting assigned to cases that last a week or two and that seems like a lot of med school to miss. Thanks for your help.

Eric

There have been many threads on this. Some states excuse med students from jury duty, most do not. But in general, if you get in touch with the clerk and let them know that it would cause you a substantial hardship for you to serve now but that you would be happy to serve during a particular vacation week, they are often amenable. Good luck.

 

[Law2Doc]

Our dean of student affairs takes care of those for us... I guess she provides a letter stating that you're a med student and asks that your'e excused from jury duty. Thats what my classmates have done and it worked out.

Whether this works totally depend on what state you are in. In most states, this won't work. And if you ignore a jury summons, you could be in for a rude surprise next time you get pulled over for speeding and find out you have an outstanding warrant.

 

[mlw03]

I too got a jury duty summons during my first or second year of med school. I live in Florida, and after talking with the student affairs office at my school and having them fill out and fax in a hardship form, that was the last I heard of it. Realize this was for local court - I've heard that federal summons are tougher to get out of.

 

[Medical123]

I too, was summoned for jury duty during my 2nd year of med school. My Dean wrote a letter which got me excused from it. Of course, it does vary from state to state. Like someone else said, if you can't get out of it, ask the clerk if you can do it over your summer break. Good luck!

 

[anon-y-mouse]

There have been many threads on this. Some states excuse med students from jury duty, most do not. But in general, if you get in touch with the clerk and let them know that it would cause you a substantial hardship for you to serve now but that you would be happy to serve during a particular vacation week, they are often amenable. Good luck.

Hey, Mr JD, when you go in for jury duty, don't they have to prescreen you by asking you a few questions? Couldn't you just answer really extremely ("I think all thieves/murderers/etc. should be executed") and get excused that way? At least that's how it works on TV...

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey, Mr JD, when you go in for jury duty, don't they have to prescreen you by asking you a few questions? Couldn't you just answer really extremely ("I think all thieves/murderers/etc. should be executed") and get excused that way? At least that's how it works on TV...

There are instances where people were jailed for contempt for blatent attempts to do this -- someone cited an article in the other thread, I think. But sometimes you will be excused due to actually holding strong opinions on guns, capital punishment, law enforcement practices and the like. It would depend on the case.

 

[45408]

Our dean of student affairs takes care of those for us... I guess she provides a letter stating that you're a med student and asks that your'e excused from jury duty. Thats what my classmates have done and it worked out.

Same. They told us this during orientation.

 

[ShyRem]

If you can't get excused due to being in school you could call the jury commissioner, explain your situation and state "I really can't do it this week - I'd be missing an entire block of anatomy. But I'd be happy to do my jury duty service over my Christmas break." They're often more amenable to rescheduling you if you give them a block of time you'd be happy to complete your jury duty in. Worked for me.

 

[sentrosi]

Someone second year told me that they got called and it ended up being a medical malpractice suit, so they excused him since he was a med student.

Hopefully your school tapes it's lectures.

 

[psipsina]

You could just go in your gross scrubs . . .lol, I'm sure they'd send you right back to dissection 😉 (jk for those who miss sarcasm in type format)

 

[acrobat]

my dad was called for jury duty. He told them he couldn't remember a damn thing. Then he had his lawyer write them telling them he was suing them for lost wages or something to that extent for taking him out of vet school. They agreed to let him write a written statement, and that was for a homicide.

 

[Law2Doc]

my dad was called for jury duty. He told them he couldn't remember a damn thing. Then he had his lawyer write them telling them he was suing them for lost wages or something to that extent for taking him out of vet school. They agreed to let him write a written statement, and that was for a homicide.

A less nice judge could have made him spend the night in jail for his antics. And the story sounds made up -- I seriously doubt any lawyer would threaten a court with a suit over jury duty -- unless he had no expectation of practicing ever again.

 

[Rugby MD]

Ive been called for jury duty about 3 times since I registered to vote (in NY)-yes 3 times!. (one was this summer- I actually wanted to do it!) Once I was still in high school and I post poned it until summer. no problem. 2 out of the three times they had me call each night to see if I had to go in in the AM. Never did. one time they had me fill out some forms online and dismissed me.
I am sure you will be albe to postpone.
good luck.

 

[rahuldave]

You said u were assinged to downtown chicago... i recently served there ... its actually not all htat bad ...

My guess is that at least half of the called jurors never even get called for questioning... in which case you've wasted a day but that's it (that's what happened to me). That day still counts as jury service and you are guaranteed to be off the hook for an entire year.

If they do call you for questioning ... we were told most cases last 1-2 days. So that's not so bad. If it is likely to be a long case, they will ask if you have any issues serving a long time. Or you can mention it. They usually ask an open ended question to the effect of whether you would have issues serving on a jury for this case. No one wants a hung jury ...

My guess is the "long case" reputation came from the Gov Ryan trial??? in which case it's kinda moot now.

 

[vwhan]

I got the letter during my 1st year. I had to appear in court to claim a hardship excuse. I told them I was in medical school and showed my ID. They were really nice and understood. They made a note that I was excused until graduation. It will be interesting to see if i get a summons for duty during residency.