You may be summoned for jury service. You don’t need to disobey the orders because if you do, you might be playing with a jail term or ever stiff fines. So the best bet which is allowed by the government is to excuse yourself with very tangible reasons.
One of such reasons should be on medical grounds which your health might affect the job. So you would need to get a letter of jury duty medical excuse from your physician and send it to the clerk of the court or judge to make the reasons official.
So a jury duty medical excuse letter is a narrative letter that is written by a physician on behalf of a patient explaining reasons for excusing self from jury duties. This letter will alert the recipient on the reasons of your excuse which will be on medical grounds. It will state the medical condition you are undergoing that will make it difficult for you to carry out jury duty. The letter will let the reader know the diagnosis that was given to the patient to ascertain that the patient is unfit for a juror service. The letter basically is to help bring to the notice of the right authority the medical reason why a named patient should be exempted from the juror services.
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This is a formal letter as such this letter should be written using a business letter format. You would need to date your letter, address the letter to the person on your orders and add the judge surname to it. Have the body of the letter and conclusion, and then sign off professionally. Writing an effective jury duty medical excuse letter will need the physician including in the letter information that will be convincing to the judge or clerk of the court. The below information should be included in the letter
- The name of the patient
- The name of the physician
- The name or nature of the medical condition that is being treated
- The diagnosis that is given should be stated
- Mention in the letter if the medical condition is a permanent one
- State in the letter if the named person should be permanent disqualify from the juror service
Below are templates for such letters:
Sample 1
12th August 2009
Office of Jury commissioner
800-843-567
Boston, Massachusetts 45678
Re: Williams Felix
Juror badge number 4567
Dear Office of Jury Commissioner:
I, Dr Wellington Ross is the physician treating Williams Felix for multiple sclerosis, which is a disease that the immune system eats away the protective covering of the nerves. The sickness wreck the nerves of a patient which cause a disruption in communication between the brain of the patient and the its body. This is a physical disability which will not work well with a jury duty.
We need our assessment and evaluation and the diagnosis was multiple sclerosis as Williams Felix had symptoms like impaired coordination, vision loss, fatigue and bodily pains. Though treatment might help here but this health condition has no cure. The sickness can last for a lifetime. So this health condition can last for a longtime in my opinion as a physician, I will request that William Felix be exempted from juror service , he would not be effective with jury duty.
So please kindly exempt him permanently from the duty of serving the jury duty. I wouldn’t hesitate to answer all your questions if you reach out by replying to this mail. Thanks for your understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Wellington Ross
Sample 2
23rd Jan 2006
Office of Jury commissioner
879 Jerry Avenue, suite 342
Austin, Texas 76854
Re: Joe Alfred
Juror badge number 2345
Dear office of Jury commissioner
I am Dr Maurice Jackson, the medical consultant at Stanford Hospital, Maryland. I have been treating Joe Alfred for about 6 years and he suffers a physical disability of Cerebral palsy which is a congenital disorder of posture, tone, movement and muscle. This sickness occurs due to the abnormal brain development which is before birth
We did our assessment and examination and we found out he had cerebral palsy because of the symptoms of involuntary motions, exaggerated reflexes and rigid limbs. The truth is that this illness can be treated to help a little but it can’t be cured. So it is permanent sickness that can last for a lifetime and wouldn’t work with a jury duty. So as this is a permanent health condition, as a medical physician I will suggest that it wouldn’t be wise to have Maurice Jackson takes up a Jury duty.
You would have to excuse him permanently from the performance of any Juror service. It will be to the good of the position, since he might not be able to carry out the job effectively. Thanks for your consideration and understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Maurice Jackson
Conclusion
The jury duty doesn’t need those with mental or physical disability, so if one with these health conditions is summons to resume this duty it will better to present a jury medical excuse letter to aid exemption from the job. But since this excuse has to do with one’s health, it is therefore, important to get the letter written by a primary health care worker or a physician. This will bestow on this letter the power it should have to bring the positive result needed. Writing a jury duty medical excuse letter is simple but for the physician to make it efficient, vital information that will appeal to the recipients must be included in the letter.
The above writing tips and guidelines should help you write the letter with the information on it. You just need to adopt the format as stated above. The samples have outlined too, you would use them to have a clue of how you should write jury duty medical excuse letter. Use any of them as your template, just input your original information and you would have crafted an excellent letter.
