MASSACHUSETTS - JURY DUTY

Massachusetts state laws and regulations that affect your medical practice

1. Are physicians exempt from jury duty in Massachusetts?

Yes. Registered, practicing physicians and surgeons are exempt from jury duty. Also exempt are trained nurses, assistants in hospitals and attendant nurses.

2. Under what other circumstances will a person be disqualified or excused from jury service in Massachusetts?

The following persons shall be exempt from jury duty:

The governor; lieutenant governor; members of the council; state secretary; members and officers of the senate and house of representatives during a session of the general court; judges and justices of a court; county commissioners; clerks of courts and assistant clerks and all regularly appointed officers of the courts of the United States and of the commonwealth; registers of probate and insolvency; registers of deeds; sheriffs and their deputies; constables; marshals of the United States and their deputies; and all other officers of the United States; attorneys at law; settled ministers of the gospel; officers of colleges; preceptors and teachers of incorporated academies; superintendents; officers and assistants employed in or about a state hospital, psychiatric hospital, jail, house of correction, state industrial school or state prison; teachers in public schools; enginemen and members of the fire department of Boston, and of other cities and towns in which such exemption has been made by vote of the city council or the inhabitants of the town; Christian Science practitioners and readers, respectively; and members of religious orders.

A parent or person having custody of and being responsible for the daily supervision of a child under fifteen years of age may elect not to have his name placed on the list of jurors and in such event he shall be treated as a person exempt from jury duty under this section.

A person seventy years of age or over may elect not to have his or her name placed on the list of jurors and in such event he or she shall be treated as a person exempt from jury duty under this section.

M.G.L.A. 234 § 1