# jury duty



## mikeindfw (Sep 19, 2009)

I ask my doctor for a letter to send in for a medical exemption from jury duty and he refused. Is this common practice? It seems like he doesn't consider chronic diarrhea much of a problem. Should i consider changing doctors. I'm sixty years old and it seems like alot of doctors won't accept new patients, so it could be a problem to try to change.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

If your doctor is otherwise doing a good job I dunno if this is enough to fire him over.Even without the letter you should be able to explain when they call (if they even need you, often I check the night before and they don't call anyone in) that you have health issues that will make you a disruption to the trial and they won't want you on the jury.


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## mikeindfw (Sep 19, 2009)

Thanks for responding. Although the jury notice required a doctors letter if you requested a medical exemption, I submitted it with my own letter and left it up to them to decide if frequent breaks would be a problem.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

What Kathleen meant is go ahead and go to the jury duty that day (IF they actually need you that day). But if you get chosen out of the group for a jury they usually ask a bunch of questions before actually placing you on a jury... one of which is usually "Would serving on this jury present a major hardship on you" etc.. and THAT would be when you would say.. 'I would need frequent and perhaps abrupt & urgent breaks because of a medical condition you have.' Etc...But I hope they let you know that they do not need you. All the best!


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## Cheshire Kat (Sep 17, 2009)

Oh memories...I was called this past year. (again! *sigh* geez I get called about every two years like clockwork







) Its always been in just a telephone standby status that gets dismissed in 2 or 3 days, but this time I got called in.Several years ago I was going on tele. standby status and asked my GI pretty much the same question. He said that he's never seen nor heard of an IBS/IBD patient, that has even terrible D, get an exemption for that reason. He'd write out the paper for my condition, but that it likely wouldn't help me at all as IBS/IBD is not recognized as a disability (at least at that time). So far I haven't put it to the test.My locality:Even if you get called in, you may not get chosen to serve. If you aren't chosen that same day then they must dismiss you from service. You could even end up getting dismissed by lunchtime if they have an ample jury pool. If you are chosen, most panels are for minor cases that are resolved in one day.If you're unlucky enough to get impanelled on a longterm case, my best advice is what Kathleen said; ask for a moment to speak privately to the presiding judge and present your dilemma to him/her. (And yes, you will get that opportunity.) Make sure that you get across that serving with your medical condition, despite ongoing treatment, is a hardship to you and may well be disruptive to the proceedings. I was called in on a criminal case which could potentially last several weeks. There was a questionnaire, then an inquiry from the attorneys regarding your answers, and then (if you haven't already been rejected for service) an opportunity to request to speak to the judge privately if you have any issues that you thought they should be made aware of concerning your ability/willingness to serve that weren't covered/addressed yet. Good luck to you.


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

As someone who is also in his 60s, and who has been able to serve on juries since getting this %&$* thing under control, if I felt it was going to be a problem, I would inform them and then make as many runs to the toilet as necessary, taking as much time as necessary to get myself cleaned up, until they decided my services weren't needed so much. (If I remember correctly, we were troublemakers in our youth, so would have had some of the basic training for that.







) No one really wants to deal with this problem, especially all of the fouled paper towel we leave in the garbage.Good Luck.Mark


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Yep, even if you can't get a letter for a medical exemption to get you out of even having to go to the courthouse you have an opportunity to let them know what exactly having you on the jury will be like.I don't know, but I think the medical exemption is mostly for people who just the trip to the courthouse would be more than they can handle. IBS usually doesn't mean you can't get there, but may mean once you explain you will not be able to wait until the break they won't put you on the jury. They don't want the disruption.Of the times I've been called I only had to go to the courthouse once (sometimes here they don't have cases but they have to set up people to come in every day just in case) and that one time they never even called anyone in to be interviewed. The cases all got pled out or delayed and they eventually just sent us all home.


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## crstar (Jun 29, 2009)

too weird, i had to report for jury duty just 2 days ago............last time i saw my dr & asked for an excuse, he said that he didn't think it would work for my ibs-D.........it was a horrible day, which started the nite b 4, with D.........on the way there, which is only 15mins away, i didn't think i'd make it.........luckily they had a bathroom in the parking structure.........i was a bit early & had to make 3 mad dashes.........then there was a line at the front doors & i had to make another mad dash..........i was just thinking, please let me get inside, find the bathrooms, so i know where they r & then sit down...........sitting is always easier for me, when it comes to D........most the time, i have this thing licked, but unusually heavy stress still gets to me.........i have adrenal fatigue & i now know it has alot to do with stress & lack of adrenal hormones to handle it, that causes me to make dashes to the bathroom when under alot of stress.........for me it's aldosterone that is the problem........when under stress, i don't make enough & as it falls, it causes sodium to b drawn out of the blood & to b excreted by the kidneys.........for me this causes D in a big way.........it also causes dehydration & then causes potassium to b pulled from the cells..........it can really do a job on me..........well, for me it not only drags that stuff to b peed out, but it causes my intestines to b spastic..........hence, D..........well, during my horrible day, i took about 3x the normal doses of the hydrocortisone for my adrenals & 4x lomita, all in broken doses, every time i dashed to the bathroom.............well, it finally worked & by the time i sat down in the am, it was under control............but every time i thought about having to b on a case, i'd have to go again.........all i could think about was being in the jury box, court in session & having to run from the courtroom, looking for the closest bathroom...........it was a nightmare........i was lucky, at the end of the day, they released us all......no more duty............i was so relieved..........this did teach me what i had to do to b able to handle something like this again, if it comes up............i also called my dr & he's going to find my levels of aldosterone & give me a Rx for it...........that was a good outcome from this piece of hades.........not having enough adrenal hormones is one of the reasons stress effects alot of ibs'ers with this wonderful side effect..........insufficient adrenal hormones causes the excretion of sodium & intestinal spasms..........voila', diarrhea.........those hormones help to control nerve impulses & maintain muscle integrity...........they also heal things & take care of inflammation.........i don't know if anyone can relate to this, but maybe someone will get some insight............


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## hating ibs (Jan 28, 2009)

I was chosen for federal grand jury 2 years ago. The same time that i was starting a brand new job. I was beside myself with this, federal grand jury can run for over a year and you can report up to 4 days a week. When my nerves are going my IBS is through the roof. I knew id never make it through this. I talked to my GI Dr and he didnt hesitate a bit to write me a DR note, and said that i cant be put through that stress. I wrote a formal full letter explaining my health concerns, starting a new job, and enclosed the DR note.. and thank god i got called off. IF your doctor wont write you a note, you should go to a primary care for a note. Its rediculous for a DR to refuse this, if they had to go through what we go through and they were denied it would be a totally differant story. We all have an uncontrolable illness! If i was in your shoes id find a new DR. That would be enough for me to not want to go back to them. Write a formal letter about all of your concerns and stress that you will be useless for them because you will be trapped in the bathroom the whole time. Good luck!


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## Diana63 (Oct 20, 2009)

I think i must be one of the lucky ones with a very good/understanding doctor.I have been called twice for jury duty over the past few years,and my doctor did not hesitate to do an exemption letter for me.She knows how ill i am with the IBS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.I do hope you get something sorted out for yourself.


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## TheHobbes (Dec 25, 2009)

I've always been afraid of jury duty for this reason, even when I was doing alright for a few years. I intentionally don't register to vote because of this. Too bad those two are connected, but most people I know have been called up for jury duty at least once, so I don't want to take any chances.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Well here it is connected to your driver's license. And that kinda effects almost everyone. It is hard to go to jury duty when one is flaring. Regular jury duty that is only 1 day here (unless one gets chosen for a jury and then I think they only expect it to last 3 days at most) isn't as bad as the Federal Grand or Federal Petit Jury duty. Those are commitments that can last weeks to months! If you get called for those...try to communicate your needs & just do what you can... no one can fault you for that!


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## DeeDee (Sep 30, 2004)

When I was called for jury duty a few years bck, and by the way, I hve ben called abut seven times, but the last time, I asked my dr to write me out an excuse. He said he would ndot as they woud not isten to himso the form that came with the notice I was picked, I just took tht form and filled it out myself and told them my medical history, tht i had IBS D and smetimes uncontrolable diaharea,and there was no way i could ever serve jury dutyand they took me off. I would try that yourself, and if your dr. is good I would keep himjMy dr. is a wonderful dr., but he would not do this for me, as he sid there is no way they will take you off unless you are dying, so I took it on myself and it worked. good lucjDeeDee


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## NickiNZ (Mar 5, 2006)

Hi thereI was called for jury duty last year. Although I really wanted to do my duty I knew with my IBS-D there was no way it would be possible. I didn't even worry about approaching my doctor for a note even though that's what the form said to do. I wrote a letter myself outlining my situation and saying that I was willing to serve on the jury but that I would need frequest breaks of up to 30 mins at a time several times a day because of my condition. They obviously weren't interested in having to deal with that because I got a letter back excusing me. I find it soul destroying to have to opt out of just about everything because of this horrible condition. Jury duty is just one of the many many things I "can't" do.


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