The Jury: Afterword
May. 29th, 2008 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsI went home and immediately looked up everything I was now allowed to look up.
Sclerotherapy has nothing to do with what we were talking about; how it ended up in the conversation is beyond me.
Prolotherapy ("Proliferative Injection Therapy") sounds more like what we were talking about: "... involves injecting an otherwise non-pharmacological and non-active irritant solution into the body, generally in the region of tendons or ligaments for the purpose of strengthening weakened connective tissue and alleviating musculoskeletal pain. There is conflicting evidence about its effectiveness and it is an experimental treatment." The formal treatment was founded in the 1950s. The wikipedia article is relatively informative.
Diathermy is "electrically induced heating of muscles", and is probably harmless.
Radiculopathy is a word for pain that manifests in the fingertips or extremities, but its primary cause is in the spine or close to it.
I know some people will be unhappy with the decision, and maybe with my part in it. The judge said something like "twelve minds are better than one at this sort of thing," and I don't know that I agree with her all the time, but we all did our best, argued for our positions, and held them. There were jurors who just wanted to go home, but who were will to speak up for their position even if, in the end, they voted with the jury as a whole. Juries are made up of people who don't mind being jurors. That's a virtuous position. I think, in the end, we did right.
Omaha says she finds the testimony of the EMT unremarkable. "Of course they called a critical care ambulance and took her to a level-1 trauma center! That's what they do." She points out that when she has an epileptic seziure, a grand mal, even though she needs no medical attention at all above and beyond minor first aid, they still want to ambulance her to the hospital.
I agree. But I don't think the issue was really with the hospital treatment, that was just a signal by Mr. Landry to let us know that Miss T was in a bad accident. But I think it worked against him because it led the jury to believe that his case was overstated, if she could walk out of there under her own power. There were just so many little details that didn't add up even in her own testimony. Having only one physician; having no friends, lovers, co-workers, gym mates willing to testify on her behalf; the conflict between her claim to be exercising two hours a day five days a week, following her doctor's diet and her own obvious weight. As much as we didn't like Doc McC., what we read in the report more or less corroborated the assessment that we had a thirty year old woman with "some aches and pains" but "full range of motion" in some cases better than those of your average healthy adult.
I've awakened daily since the case with doubt. Too much? Too little? Did I help ruin both lives, or only one, and if so which one?
I'm never going to know. This isn't an episode of Law & Order (or even Boston Legal), where everything is wrapped up in the last scene to the satisfaction of all concerned. Frank and Miss T's lives go on, separated now by everything but simple debt, or so we hope. I wish I could say there were better solutions to the whole problem, but there aren't. For real life, there is no fade to black.
Sclerotherapy has nothing to do with what we were talking about; how it ended up in the conversation is beyond me.
Prolotherapy ("Proliferative Injection Therapy") sounds more like what we were talking about: "... involves injecting an otherwise non-pharmacological and non-active irritant solution into the body, generally in the region of tendons or ligaments for the purpose of strengthening weakened connective tissue and alleviating musculoskeletal pain. There is conflicting evidence about its effectiveness and it is an experimental treatment." The formal treatment was founded in the 1950s. The wikipedia article is relatively informative.
Diathermy is "electrically induced heating of muscles", and is probably harmless.
Radiculopathy is a word for pain that manifests in the fingertips or extremities, but its primary cause is in the spine or close to it.
I know some people will be unhappy with the decision, and maybe with my part in it. The judge said something like "twelve minds are better than one at this sort of thing," and I don't know that I agree with her all the time, but we all did our best, argued for our positions, and held them. There were jurors who just wanted to go home, but who were will to speak up for their position even if, in the end, they voted with the jury as a whole. Juries are made up of people who don't mind being jurors. That's a virtuous position. I think, in the end, we did right.
Omaha says she finds the testimony of the EMT unremarkable. "Of course they called a critical care ambulance and took her to a level-1 trauma center! That's what they do." She points out that when she has an epileptic seziure, a grand mal, even though she needs no medical attention at all above and beyond minor first aid, they still want to ambulance her to the hospital.
I agree. But I don't think the issue was really with the hospital treatment, that was just a signal by Mr. Landry to let us know that Miss T was in a bad accident. But I think it worked against him because it led the jury to believe that his case was overstated, if she could walk out of there under her own power. There were just so many little details that didn't add up even in her own testimony. Having only one physician; having no friends, lovers, co-workers, gym mates willing to testify on her behalf; the conflict between her claim to be exercising two hours a day five days a week, following her doctor's diet and her own obvious weight. As much as we didn't like Doc McC., what we read in the report more or less corroborated the assessment that we had a thirty year old woman with "some aches and pains" but "full range of motion" in some cases better than those of your average healthy adult.
I've awakened daily since the case with doubt. Too much? Too little? Did I help ruin both lives, or only one, and if so which one?
I'm never going to know. This isn't an episode of Law & Order (or even Boston Legal), where everything is wrapped up in the last scene to the satisfaction of all concerned. Frank and Miss T's lives go on, separated now by everything but simple debt, or so we hope. I wish I could say there were better solutions to the whole problem, but there aren't. For real life, there is no fade to black.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 08:21 pm (UTC)This can happen. There is medical examples of it, and for now, they have no idea what to do with these people. They don't know what causes it. Not saying that what is happening for her, but it can occur.
Also, did she walk out of the hospital AMA (against medical advice) at the time of the accident, and did she sign the papers? That was my one big question.
I think you did the best you could. Cool that you actually got on a jury this time, maybe I will next time.