Saturday, December 7, 2019

Random Tid Bits

  1. Before I left for Jury Duty I got all the rest of the semester completed. I will have grading to do, but tests are written, lectures are prepared for, all that kind of work is done!

  2. I can't keep up with Mica's pant size. He came out looking so odd, with tight/short pants. Go figure he he was up a few sizes in length and width. I bought him a few pairs of Urban Outfitters, brought them home and Travis said they were the same size that he wears. It's a good thing they like different brands, so I can tell them apart.

    I took Mica to Tractor Supply to look and see if they have worms for Sunny, our Gecko. Turns out they don't have live worms, but they did have canvas pants that looked good on Mica, for $9.99. Do you have a Tractor Supply store where you live?

  3. Mica was looking for tortilla shells, for a taco. He came out in the living room and said, "I can't find any normal ones. All I can find is these small ones." We all three looked at him and said, "Mica those are pancakes." That kid cracks me up weekly.

  4. This meme cracked me up more than others I've seen lately:


  5. I feel like I have 100s of things to do, and zero time to do them. 

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Court Trial

I've only seen trials on TV. Showing up, and being part of one was new to me. 

It's lots of sitting, listening, not talking, and not sharing. 

I did find it funny when I went to the bathroom, and a lady was in there talking to herself. She came out of the stall, apologized for talking to herself. I said, "Hey we all talk to ourselves from time to time. No worries." She replied, "I'm just so worried about my urine. I'm in trial over a drug charge. They said I diluted my urine, but I didn't." I replied back with, "Oh well maybe you just drank a lot of water." She said, "No." I said, "I'm not sure." Thinking, You look a bit strung out to me. You sure you didn't dilute your pee?!




Now that my civil trial is over I can share.

They told us not to look anything up, while the trial was going on. Now that it's over, I can't even find anything about my trial online at all. Poof nothing!

First off I'm not about to spill the beans, and names too. I'm just spilling the beans only.

A man was shot (wrong place at the wrong time) in 1979. He remained a paraplegic. His wife was/is his primary caregiver. She was told by the VA to take a 30 day vacation. She sent her husband to stay at a healthcare center.

The VA checked him out, he was in good health. He had a history of urinary tract infections, but hadn't had one for 3 years that we knew of record wise. He needed a condom catheters, which is a catheter that goes on like a condom, and has a bag at the end to collect the urine. It's the least invasive catheters.

Condom catheters only have to be changed every 4 to 5 days. The healthcare center changed it every 2. He got a scratch on his penis, that changed into a bigger wound. They claimed he wanted a foley catheter. He said he never asked for that.

The order was called in to the VA doc to get him a foley catheter. He got a massive UTI, which turned sepsis. He had to go to a hospital, and it cost him $35,000.

He was suing the healthcare center for the medical bills, pain and suffering. He claimed it was the healthcare center that was at fault, for giving him the scratch, turned into a wound. He never wanted the foley catheter. It all lead to the UTI.

The healthcare center said his memory wasn't right. They were just following what he wanted, and what the doctor ordered.

In the deliberation room:

The healthcare center and VA had horrible records! The healthcare center said one day he had the condom catheter, the next day the folly and the next day he was back to the condom catheter. Say what?! The VA doctor didn't even have him on antibiotics. Say what!? With the scratch/wound in the penis + being at risk for UTIs I would have had him on those right away! He could have gotten a staph infection on that wound. Yes he was out of it memory wise, he was sick with a UTI that went sepsis!

There were errors with his care all around. BUT the nurses at the healthcare center were acting on orders from the doctor at the VA. He went to a different hospital, not under the VA because that's where the ambulance decided to take him.

He was suing the healthcare center, for the catheter they put in causing his infection. We as jurors couldn't find them guilty. They were only guilty for not seeing him enough, and taking crappy records.

A needy guy lost. It sucked. BUT it was what it was. Moral of the story, take good records! 

Court Jury Process

I've been on crazy mode trying to get things done. I have all my holiday decor up, all my cookies made (which is a lot!), presents wrapped for my nephews, and gifts bought for my children. I've been pushing Mica to nail out his Science Fair Project. Mica has been stubborn about that one. I just NEED to work on my holiday card in a big way.

I've been freaking out about Monday (Possible Jury Duty), for a good month. I just feared trying to find parking downtown. Crazy that I grew up here, and feared that. Maybe it's all the one way streets. I found out my Mom is the same way. Maybe I get it from her.

Travis was hoping I'd get Jury Duty. He wanted me to wear my big girl panties, and get my ass downtown. Well I called Sunday night, listened to the Juror numbers 3 times, and swore mine didn't need to show. Travis said, "Umm yes you need to show." Not only was I direction incompetent, but I was dyslexic with my numbers too. Nothing new there. Maybe directions and numbers go hand in hand.

Just so everyone knows, I tested positive for a learning disability in college. I never had a name attached to that disability. I've always found my way, somehow. Anxiety does happen from time to time, when things are weak in my mind. I get through.

Off I went downtown. Get this...it's mostly straight, but it feels like I turn and twist all over the place because the streets merge into other streets. Much of the way wasn't narrow straight, but I only turned twice and once was right by my house.


I never got lost, and parking wasn't so bad.


I pay attention to everything!

Except when it comes to directions. 

When I got there I had to go to the bathroom, so bad. I drink like crazy in the morning. Guess what? A couple was getting married in the hallway, right in front of the bathrooms. Who gets married at 8 in the morning right by the courthouse bathrooms? 

I was one of the first to check in. No one sat by each other, but the room was full of people. It was so odd. You could hear a pen drop in there.

They told us on our forms to dress business casual, but there were lots of people in ball caps and t shirts. 

One guy showed up with 2 very small children.

My Odds:

There were 2 trials going on. They only needed 12 x 2 = 24 Jurors. There was well over 200 people there. Everyone was divided into 2 groups. Then between the 2 groups the selection process began. 

We entered the court room. Again I pay attention to everything. A guy was told to take his hat off. Two girls were not. Odd!

I'm thinking, There's a lot of people, maybe I won't get picked! They called off, "Alesa Apell", which I knew meant "Alissa Apel" rhymes with Melissa Maple. 

18 people were called up.

They asked a ton of questions. The one I had to explain the most was, "Do you know anyone that has had to advocate, for someone?" My nephew Emerson has to be advocated for all the time. I had to explain a lot about him. That was a big deal because the case was, for a guy that had to be advocated for.

They kicked off 6. 2 were nurses. The case involved nurses. 1 was a lawyer that defended cases like that. 1 worked for a law firm. 1 just had a surgery, and couldn't sit still. 1 was just trying to make his way back into the world after being homeless. I stayed.

Every time I was in the courtroom I thought about one of the Jurors getting the hiccups up there. Not able to control themselves. 

Rules:

We were told to listen to the facts, not to talk to each other about the case, not to talk to outside sources about the case, and not to have empathy for each party. The empathy part was the hardest. Second hardest was I didn't know how much we could or couldn't talk to the other jurors. Apparently they didn't know either. The room typically got very quiet on our breaks. So much so, that the water bubbler was extremely loud when someone was getting a drink. You could hear when someone was peeing. When we had to buzz in that we were all there, ready to go back in after a break I swear it felt like we waited an eternity for them to show us into the courtroom. It felt like we were inside an escape room, and may not find our way out.

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