One angry woman

The holidays were rough, but we got through them. I have a story to tell about that, but that will have to wait for another day. Today I'm irritated and need to share.

I spent Maggie's life fighting the system. If you fought enough you could make it work. It did work for her mainly because of the constant fighting. Somehow I thought one small relief I would get was the end of the fight.

Not to be.

You may recall my irritation a month or so ago when Maggie received another summons for jury duty. If not, you can read it here: Maggie World: The Jury is out.  Despite my aggravation I dutifully reported to the court that Mary Margaret would not be reporting because she passed way. My rationale for bothering to do this was that the notices would stop. I was so very wrong.

Today Maggie received a "NOTICE OF FAILURE TO APPEAR FOR JURY SERVICE."  This letter threatens the "imposition of fines and/or incarceration."

Good luck with that. I think she's out of your jurisdiction now.

I just finished writing a letter to our jury commissioner that ends like this

What do I have to do to make this stop?  Your office was advised of her inability to serve because of her permanent disabilities. That was ignored. It was likewise advised that Mary Margret passed away.  That too was ignored. Please pay attention, and adjust your records to remove her name. This is just cruel.  

 Any bets on when she gets the next notice.

Or when I do?

Photo from the film "Twelve Angry Men"

The Jury is out

I touched on this a couple of weeks ago, but I just found it again in a pile of papers, so you are getting another dose.

Maggie received a jury summons a couple of weeks ago. She is supposed to report on Monday November 24 unless she has a legitimate reason to be excused. She does. One of the few legitimate excuses is if the prospective juror is deceased. One simply checks a box and one is excused.

Now I know my reaction may be extreme because of my situation, but I find this appalling. Obviously the City and County of San Francisco summons the deceased for jury duty often enough that has modified its summons form to make that an acceptable excuse. That is bizarre. Maybe it's time to rethink this.

Wouldn't it be more efficient to cross check a list of prospective jurors against a list of death certificates issued in the City?  Once it was set up, it would take no time at all, it would be an automatic check. Of course they wouldn't get everyone, but you would get a lot of people. The City and County could save the paper, the postage and a lot of heartache/angst for the family members of the deceased; it could do right by its citizens.

Part of me just wanted to toss the summons in the garbage.  I mean what are they going to do?  I wasn't summoned, I have no reason to do the City's job for them.  But then I realized if I didn't send it back in, the notices will keep coming every year or so forever, which is likely what happens to many, including those without a family living at the same address. That means I would get annoyed/hurt/angry every time I received one.  It's worth the trouble and the stamp to stop that.

 But it really better stop.

Maggie was summoned two years ago, and I found it rather charming. (Maggie World: Juror #5, what say you). The court had no reason to know Maggie could not serve as a juror. So I told them. I submitted medical information that she was severely and permanently disabled and had actually been conserved by the San Francisco Superior Court, the very same department that issues the summons, One would think her name would have been taken off the rolls at that time. Hence, I have my doubts that sending this back with notification that she is deceased will do any good at all

Could it possibly be that no one in City Hall actually reads anything?

Check a box  ___ Yes   ___No

It is what it is, but it's stupid.

The system is cold and unfeeling. I suppose that's no surprise. It's not human; it's incapable of feeling. How is it then that this inhumanity can cause exasperation, frustration and even sadness in a real human?

Today when I arrived home I came in through the garage so I could get the mail. The mail slot is in the garage door and it goes into an old beer box that Steve taped to the inside of the door. Generally it works perfectly, but when there is a ton of mail (as there was today) it tends to hit the top of the box instead of dropping in and as soon as the door goes up, the mail goes everywhere. Because there is an election next week everyone is inundated with campaign crap which caused everything to go flying. I had my purse and a bag of groceries in my hand so I left the junk on the floor of the garage and picked up only what mattered, like the electric bill and what I thought was a check I've been waiting for. When I put everything down upstairs and looked closer I realized it wasn't a check at all. It was a Jury Summons for Maggie.

Ouch ...On so many levels.

Amazingly, though, as I looked at the form I noted a box that excuses a prospective juror if they are deceased.

So we've got that going for us.

There are many other things like this that happen all the time. The worst one was shortly after Maggie passed away. I told someone this story the other day and realized I never shared it.

Before Maggie passed away I initiated the process for IHSS (In Home Support Services). It's a California program that is designed to help disabled people stay in their homes.  The IHSS worker would not do nursing care, but could do thing like shop, laundry, cleaning, etc. There was really no question that Maggie would be qualified for it, but I never went through the application process which is mandatory. I filled out the application and arranged for the required home visit. The home visit was scheduled for February 18 (I remember because it's my dad's birthday) That was Tuesday after Presidents Day. Maggie died on Saturday night February 15.

As I wandered around the house in the middle of the night on Sunday or Monday unable to sleep. I suddenly remembered that woman was coming over. It was 2AM, but I figured I would leave a voice mail on her office phone hopefully heading her off before she came over on Tuesday. It worked. She called me Tuesday morning and thanked me for calling her and expressed her condolences. She was very nice and said all the right things. I was happy it was taken care of without having to deal with anyone in person. Efficient and relatively painless.

Of course that wasn't the end of it.  There is a process and the government needs to have the right paper in the right file within the required amount of time. Even though the human was kind and caring, she had to complete the dehumanizing process.

A week or so later I received an official State of California/County of San Francisco letter advising that the application for IHSS was officially DENIED because the determination was that Mary Margaret did not need the services.  

While I couldn't really argue with the conclusion,  I certainly could have done without the letter.

Can't wait to see what's next.

Juror #5, what say you

This is a warning to anyone who may be accused of a crime in San Francisco. If you are scheduled for trial during the week of October 15, 2012 you have an additional problem. Call your lawyer. See if you can get a continuance to any other week. Because Ms. Law and Order  is coming to the jury box.

Maggie has been summoned to jury duty for that week.

I'm almost tempted to send her. I wonder if there's a space for her nurse and electrical outlets for her suction machine.