Profunksticated

My day in jury duty turned out to be a hell of a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.

I was in the jury pool for a medical negligence case involving what the plaintiff alleged is a botched gastric bypass procedure. The defendant, to my surprise, was a doctor who is a member of the same practice that my wife went to for a similar — and successful — procedure in 2005.

“There’s no way I’m going to serve on this jury if I’m called,” I thought.

In trying to pick an eight-member jury – six members and two alternates – several people were excused for various reasons. Then I was called to sit in the box.

I was about to be surprised a second time. The judge said to me in open court that he thought he knew me. I told him that was possible because I had worked for the local newspaper as a reporter based in Camden. I gave the judge the dates I worked there. Then the judge told the opposing counsels that he and I had a past professional relationship, but would allow me to be seated as a possible juror.

He then asked if I would have responded to any of the qualifying questions asked earlier potential jurors. I said “Yes,” then approached the bench. The judge said to me that he recalled I covered the county government and that he at the time was the counsel to the county’s governing body. I nodded, and said, “That’s right.” But his face was still unfamiliar to me.

I told the judge and the lawyers the doctor performed a similar surgery on my wife. At that point, the judge excused me due to my connection to the doctor and his practice. The plaintiff’s lawyer smiled and asked me, “Did you write nice things about them?” To which the judge interjected, “Sometimes.” I smiled as I walked away.

As I left the courtroom, I looked at the judge’s name on the door, the light bulb went on, and I finally remembered the guy.

The judge was once part of the political machine that has run the county for decades. Not that unusual when you consider that the installation of judges, whether by elected officials (re: the President appointing members of the Supreme Court), or by voters, is an inherently political process. Once they’re on the bench, however, they are supposed to rise above politics and rule based on the law.

When I told The Spouse about my day in court, she told me it was one of the doctor’s partners who actually performed her surgery. She initially consulted with the defendant, however. No matter, the judge still would likely have excused me.

Another weird thing: The plantiff had her surgery done in December 2002. The Spouse had hers performed in December 2005.

Microscopic world, I’ll tell you.