Judge
Manno Schurr Brings Nursing Background to Courtroom
Judge Valerie R.
Manno Schurr, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge
Valerie Manno Schurr had been a nurse for a dozen years when she passed the
Florida Bar exam. She kept working in the operating room.
"One day we had a new surgeon come in, and they said, 'You
know there's a lawyer in the room. You better be careful,' " she said.
After the operation, "the head nurse came to me and said, 'You know you
made that guy very nervous. He didn't like that there was a lawyer in the
room.' "
The Miami Beach native pursued nursing right after graduating from
North Miami High School, urged on by her sister, who was already a nurse.
"I couldn't decide what I wanted to do, and she said, 'Why
don't you go to nursing school? It's a great job. You're going to love it.' " Manno Schurr
recalled. "And I did. I really did. Nursing is a wonderful, wonderful
profession."
She started in oncology at Mount Sinai Hospital.
It was emotionally trying. Her mother died of breast cancer at 37
when Manno Schurr was 5. Caring for cancer patients took its toll.
Even though some were cured, she said the work was still painful
for her. After two years, she got reassigned to the intensive care unit, then
the recovery room. "Then I got cross-trained to work in the operating
room," Manno Schurr said.
"I did paperwork. I'd get the patient from the holding area,
check the band—'Are you so and so? Are you having this surgery?' You have to
make sure that everybody knew what we were doing," she said.
She served as the operating room's official historian and monitor,
recording every event and keeping track of every instrument and piece of
equipment used.
"I would do: Time patient in the room. Time patient on the
table. Anesthesia started at this time. The time of the first incision,"
she said. "And then when they would start to close, I had to count
everything."
The operation couldn't end until every item was accounted for,
down to every single sponge—even if it meant, as she once did, getting down on
her hands and knees and searching under the operating table to find it.
Dual Career
In 1989, she said, "I started getting restless. I just wanted
to do something else. I knew a bunch of people that were at UM law school. …
Actually, we went to the law school, and I sat in the back of the room. They
didn't say anything. They let me do it. And I said, 'I think this is very cool.
I think I want to do this.'
"The next thing I know," she said, "I'm a law
student."
Manno Schurr kept working as a nurse and as a clerk at a law firm
steps from the Flagler Street courthouse.
"I went to night school, and I had a job Saturday and Sunday
that I worked from 7A to 7P" in the ICU units at local hospitals, she
said. "I went to school at night."
After Manno Schurr graduated, she said, "It took me a couple
of years to get a job." When she did, her years of experience in hospitals
paid off.
"I got a lot of work doing medical malpractice," she
said. "That's what people wanted me to do."
In 1996, she left to form a general civil litigation practice with
her husband. In 2004, she ran for county court and lost. She ran again for
circuit court in 2006 and won.
"I loved being a nurse," she said. "I loved being a
lawyer. Now I'm here, and I love it. I'm very happy."
Still, she kept her nursing license active until just a couple of
years ago, and she keeps her nursing honor society pin in her chambers. And she
said her years of nursing still pay off in the courtroom, in more ways than
one.
"I've been in every division. I started off in dependency; I
went to criminal and civil. When I was over there in civil and I was trying a
medmal case and the doctor was testifying on the stand, it was great because I
knew everything that was going on," she said.
Now in the family division, Manno Schurr said: "Everybody
who's on the bench, all of us, we bring to this job all of our experiences in
life, and it makes you a better judge. I think that being a nurse gives me a
lot of compassion, especially in this division. It gives me a lot of compassion
for people."
Like many of the judges, she said, she might someday teach, but
not necessarily at a law school. She said she'd rather teach nursing. ~ Read more: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/id=1202729965596/Judge-Manno-Schurr-Brings-Nursing-Background-to-Courtroom#ixzz3lrDCJCXh
What's being said
David
Inguanzo-Petitioner-2008-029595
Jul 10, 2015
Judge
Manno-Schurr is my 8 year-old Paternity - Family Court Case Presiding Judge.
The 5th Judge to preside over my simple case; an unwed biological father
seeking to maintain contact with his daughter Zoraya (Google and Judge
Manno-Schurr is enabling Child Abuse via Parental Alienation.
On March 25th, 2015, in a special set hearing at the Family Courthouse, Judge Manno-Schurr interrupted my testimony while on the witness stand to notate the court reporter‘s record saying…
Judge
Manno-Schurr: "the father (me) is
turning red in the face, yelling at me, and pointing his finger at me"
Stuart
Abramson (for Petitioner), objected noting the record: "the father has been diagnosed with PTSD
your honor".
Judge
Manno-Schurr (this is why you should rethink this article) said: "Mr. Inguanzo were you in the
military?"
Petitioner Testimony: "NO your Honor...YOU AND THIS CASE HAS CAUSED THE PTSD ACCORDING TO MY DOCTORS"
How about that for a Registered Nurse!!!
WE SUPPORT DVI - THE INSIDE STORY BY MR. TOM LEMMONS
Congressional Testimony: Glen Gibellina to Bill Windsor of Lawless America
