To add to our towering ziggurat of pandemic Zoom incidents, we can add this one: A California surgeon showed up for his online traffic-court date during surgery.
Despite the surgeon insisting that he was totally fine to continue with the court appearance, the flabbergasted judge wisely insisted the doctor come back another time, ideally when he wasn't about to, y'know, cut into someone.
"Hello, Mr. Green? Are you available for trial?" asked a courtroom clerk. "It kind of looks like you're in an operating room right now?"
"I am, sir," Green replied. "Yes, I'm in an operating room right now. I'm available for trial. Go right ahead."
Traffic trials are required by law to be open to the public. With limited access to courtrooms due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Sacramento Superior Court proceedings are livestreamed and posted to YouTube.
Green wasn't fazed as, head down, he continued his work, but Link wasn't amused even as the commissioner tried to absorb what he was seeing on his monitor.
"So unless I'm mistaken, I'm seeing a defendant that's in the middle of an operating room appearing to be actively engaged in providing services to a patient. Is that correct, Mr. Green? Or should I say Dr. Green?" Link asked over the sounds of suction and the beep-beep of medical devices.
Go read the rest of the piece, and watch the video, in which the judge and surgeon haggle over whether the court appearance ought to continue. It's pretty surreal.
