I have been summoned to do jury service. Has anyone else done this? I have relapsing remitting but sometimes have disturbed nights, nerve pain etc… Should I do this? Looking for guidence.
Many thanks
Jo
Hi Jo,
Interesting question -just tried to google it but didn’t come up with much.
Direct gov said you can be exempt if ‘you regularly visit a medical practitioner for treatment’.
I have thought about this question as I have urgency and frequency problems and have to rush to the loo.
Think they ask three times the number of people to go along and whittle them down. You will have to inform them of
any dr/hospital appts.
If you feel up to it do it .
Good luck, Jen x
Yes you are exempt; just write to them and say you have MS. If they can supply a carer; ambulance to take you to and from; tell Judge to stop proceedings instantly you want to go to P they will excuse you.
Personally I was disappointed; would have liked it.
George
Hi Jo,
Really depends if you want to do it. Yes you could get out of it. I did it once and found it exceedingly interesting and if you need anything you put your hand up and an usher will come to you and ask what’s wrong and if necessary everything stops so you can achieve what you need. It would make a lovely break for you and you get to meet different people and they have disabled facilities there.
Hope this helps.
Janet
x
Hi Jo,
You will easily be excused; however, I’m not sure that was your question.
I think what it really boils down to is do you WANT to do it? If you do, the fact you “sometimes have disturbed nights” etc. doesn’t automatically render you unfit to be a juror. Ideally, juries should be made up of as broad a cross section of the general public as possible, including those who have problems of various kinds.
Personally, as I am at the moment (which sounds similar to you - pain and poor sleep, but NOT needing an ambulance to and from the court, or special provision for comfort breaks, or anything like that), I would probably like to do it, whilst I still can.
I don’t consider I’d be too ill, and I don’t consider any mental impairment (from pain, fatigue, or whatever) to be such that I couldn’t follow a case, listen to reasoned arguments, and come to a reasoned decision.
So I don’t think it would be wrong or irresponsible of me to sit on a jury. Then again, I wouldn’t feel guilty if I decided, taking everything into account, that it really wasn’t for me, and I was going to ask for exemption. It really does depend on how you are, and how much you want to do it.
I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer; it just has to be what you want.
Tina
I got called to do jusry service,I just phoned the phoned the number and they have exempted me from future jury duty ,:
Hi Anon, I did jury service a few years ago and despite the fact that a lot of it was spent waiting to be called, it can be quite stressful to sit on some of the more unsavoury cases. Mags 