Are Dentists required to do Jury Duty?


In New York they are! I received a notice to serve once earlier this year and I asked for a postponement. I indicated that I would like to serve in August ( A slow month) Actually serving on a jury could be a financial hardship because a case could potentially go on for a week or two and my office has many bills that come due each month (rent, loans, salaries, american express, automatic debits, etc) , whether I am working or not.

Just prior to my August vacation I received a notice that I received a notification that I was scheduled to report on August 21rst. I was instructed to call on the Friday before,  to find out if I was needed.
I hoped that when I called I would be told not to come in (as had happened in the past), but when I called on the Friday night before,  I got some bad news... I was to report bright and early Monday morning no matter what.

Needless to say I spent a somewhat uncomfortable weekend. I imagined that I would be assigned to a case and would have to serve until it was over... In the meantime my office rent would probably go unpaid (at least until I got back to work) and my 4 employees would have to be furloughed. My patients having emergencies would have to be referred elsewhere. In my restless mind this appeared to be a potential disaster!

I arrived at the Queens Civil Court bright and early on Monday morning and hung out in a Starbucks until it was close to the time I was told to report. When it was close to 9 AM I walked through the metal detectors and was directed to a large waiting room with wifi and told to wait. A nice lady warmed us up with some chatter and instructions. Essentially we weren't allowed to use our cell phone cameras to take any pictures and we should go behind a barrier on the side of the room if we wanted to make any calls. The room was air conditioned and I brought my laptop. I must admit it was more pleasant than I imagined.

At around 10 some of my neighbors were called and led out to a court room for jury interviews. Most came back after around 45 mins. At 12;30 someone came out and told us all we could go home and we were off the hook for jury duty. She explained that we had four more years before we might have to "serve" again.   To tell the truth.... my 3 1/2 hours of Jury Duty were not half bad and I enjoyed my lunch at a nearby Popeyes chicken immensely. Afterwards I caught a F train back to Manhattan to my office.

from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2017/08/are-dentists-required-to-do-jury-duty.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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