Medical Professionals endorse Family Friendly Jury Duty Legislation
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Dr.
Philip Zazove, M.D., 2004 Candidate for the Michigan House of
Representatives (52nd District), is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine
and Associate Medical Director, Ambulatory Care at the University of
Michigan
"I fully support the need for family friendly jury duty legislation, such as
that being proposed in the Michigan legislature. It is critical that we
ensure that mothers who wish to breast feed, among other things, are allowed
to do this."
Dr. Jonathan Vahue-Rubin,
is a chiropractor who has a family practice in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
“...This (family friendly jury duty bill) is not an issue simply of
morality; it is also an issue that involves education and experience. It is
a clinical fact that nursing for at least one year has substantial physical
and emotional benefits for both mother and child. And at least in the city
of Kalamazoo, we cannot trust that jury clerks or even judges will be aware
of this scientific information that is not in their primary field of
knowledge...
Our communities have a need for juries which represent the full spectrum of
decency and goodness of our population. But our communities have a
greater need for its nursing mothers and primary caregivers to be caring for
their children. No one should be forced to choose between their child and
their civic duty.
If the demands of our community for jury duty force a mother to stop
breastfeeding her baby, or force a primary caregiver to be separated from a
young child who would be harmed by such a separation, then I believe our
community commits a grave moral wrong. And make no mistake, Honorable Ladies
and Gentlemen, that wrong is being committed now, for a fact in Kalamazoo. I
am forced to wonder how it serves the public good in our state to obligate
even one nursing mother or primary caregiver to stop providing such
important care for our state’s children. And to be honest I was quite
surprised to learn that our state law currently leaves this very significant
question to be decided by the whim of a jury clerk or a judge who may or may
not have any knowledge in this area.”
Testimony given by Dr. Vahue-Rubin
before the Michigan House Judiciary Committee in support of HB 4455 on
October 14, 2003