Health care reform

Nobody is talking about the most important part of healthcare reform: doctor deposition fees. Lawyers around Hattiesburg, you know what I'm talking about. We pay more here for doctors' depositions than they pay in Chicago, New York, or anywhere else, especially for treating physicians.

Last year I paid $2500.00 for a doctor's deposition that ran 40 minutes, more or less, and the doctor did not know his patient's name, couldn't recall the last time he'd been in to see him, did not remember that he was scheduled to receive an experimental drug treatment in the next week, and finally stated that the defendant's negligence had no connection with my client's worsening medical condition. All information that he could have provided me at no cost to my client or myself.

I recommend that we fix doctor's fees at depositions to be the same as workers' compensation deposition fees.