Taylorville Personal Injury Lawyers Look At Jury Selection In Elder Abuse Trials

In this article, Taylorville personal injury lawyers examine how jurors are evaluated when an elder abuse case goes to trial.

Emotional Impact

When you place a loved one in a nursing home, you expect him or her to receive proper care and attention. When this does not happen, your natural response is outrage. The nursing home staff was placed in a position of trust and that trust was not, in your opinion, upheld. On the other hand, the nursing home staff may be equally angry, feeling that they have been victimized or even set up by someone intending to profit from a lawsuit based on charges they feel are unjust. In either case, the common denominator is anger and this will impact the selection of jurors.

Choosing The Jury

Normally, prospective jurors tend to be sympathetic to a plaintiff who is bringing charges of elder abuse against a nursing home, and are rather less likely to question the plaintiff’s motives. When a personal injury attorney begins the jury selection process, he or she will wish to ascertain the prospective juror’s feelings concerning such cases in order to decide whether to accept this person or not. In making this assessment, the attorney will look at:

• How the juror feels concerning the quality of care that is provided for elder patients compared to the quality of care that ought to be provided.
• How old the juror appears to be. A juror who is at, nearing or past retirement age is likely to place great importance on how nursing homes care for their patients. Given that this juror may be in that position at some point, it can touch the juror on a personal level.
• The juror’s moral standing on the suggestion that elder patients are neglected, harmed, treated with unkindness or disrespect or are abused in some other manner. A juror who is deeply offended at the thought of a patient suffering at the hands of those who were charged with his or her care will see it as a profound violation of trust.
• The juror’s feelings concerning the financial impact that the family has sustained for services that were not rendered or were rendered improperly.

All of these factors bear directly on the juror’s probable level of sympathy with the plaintiff, and will be important criteria during the selection process by an experienced elder care or personal injury attorney.

Seek Legal Counsel Today

If you or a loved one has suffered elder care abuse, contact a Taylorville personal injury attorney with McCarthy Rowden & Baker today.