Tallahassee - The Trailing Spouse's Jury Finds Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Not Guilty

With Tallahassee having a fantastic week of temperatures in the 80s and humidity in the 20s - The Trailing Spouse spent 6 days at the county court house in rooms without windows.

I was selected for a jury to hear a civil case against the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and 2 emergency room doctors. It was my first time on a jury and I was very curious about the details.

It started last Friday when 30 jurors in the pool were whittled down to 8. The questioning of the 30 people took all day. Finally - the "lucky ones" were selected and told to return Monday for a 5 day trial.

From Monday to Thursday - we heard witnesses from each side. Each witness was pampered by one lawyer and grilled by the other. Each side had two lawyers - one lady and one man. First off - I hope I never have to sit either as a plaintiff or defendant. I viewed a lot of nervous witnesses and some brilliant people. Sometimes - the witness appeared like a different person depending on which side was questioning him. The lawyers like to ask long drawn out questions and then insist on "yes or no" answers. I was surprised that witnesses could present via video of testimony prepared earlier. In one case - one of the lawyers took the stand and read from a script of deposition while the other lawyer asked questions from another script - sort of like a soap opera.

We were shown plenty of posters of office records - over and over again. Many doctors testified about the records from both sides. I was truly amazed at how many doctors disagreed with each other. One doctor would say doing a spinal tap was as simple as drawing blood and painless - and the next doctor would make it seem like open heart surgery. I wouldn't want to pay the witness bills - because they ranged from $300 to $1000 an hour - and that included travel time and study time.

The judge was a referee deciding what each lawyer could say and not say. He liked telling us not to discuss the case with anyone - and we didn't. The bailiff led us back and forth to the jury room - which reminded me so much of the faculty room back at school - except there were no teachers in their whining about how bad the kids are.

The case very simply was - an 8 year older went into the TMH on New Years Day with a stiff neck and fever. They kept the child 4 hours and when the fever went down with Motrin - they sent the youngster home. TMH said it was a viral infection.

7 days later the child returned with a very bad disease called ADEM - an infection of the brain and spinal chord. About 4 people per 1,000,000 develop this disease. It causes permanent brain damage that may cause urinary problems.

The plaintiff claimed that TMH did not diagnose the problem on the first visit because they did not do a spinal tap. The defense claimed that the ADEM often follows a virus by a week and that the child did not have the disease on the first visit.

The plaintiff was asking for up to $2,000,000.

The judge cut our 8 member jury team down to 6. We went to the jury room - and had to come back with a unanimous 6-0 decision.

In the jury room - the other 5 picked me to be the foreman. I asked each of the people to state their opinions. Finally - each of us had the chance to discuss the case. Each person took about 5 minutes to say what they thought. Without any dispute - each juror said the hospital and doctors were without fault. The doctors followed all the right procedures. One doctor was a 40 year veteran - the other one was a rookie fresh out of medical school. The young doctor kept meticulous notes that were very neat - you could tell he was not a doctor long and did not develop the terrible handwriting many doctors have.

I checked off "no" three times on the report - one for each doctor and one for TMH. I dated the report and signed it. Then we made one more trip back to the court room - one never gets used to the entire crowd rising every time you enter the room - sort of like President Obama or Britney Spears. The judge asked for my report. The clerk read the results - and we all went home.

I think we get paid $15 a day - or something like that. They will send the check - I guess they can't look us in the eye while giving us such a low amount for 6 days of our lives. But - I was rewarded more than money. I worked with a team of 8 very professional people - and saw our system of justice work - and was amazed at its design.

Now - what about OJ Simpson?

FIVE MONTHS LATER - Still not paid :-)