Another deposition…

[Savedfpdoc]

I’ve seen a patient maybe 5 times in the last yr, 2 of those were for anxiety. She told me during the last one that anxiety comes from mva that happened 5 yrs ago. She is involved in litigation. Her attorney emailed me today asking me to generate a report summarizing her care for anxiety and requested to depose me. He wants to know my charge for both.
I plan to respond that I’m not generating a report and that I can make myself available for a virtual deposition but that I can only speak to what’s mentioned in my notes and I cannot comment on whether the mva caused her anxiety. Also demanding payment prior to deposition.

fyi, 5yrs ago I saw a patient before he had a car accident. He later sued the other party. . Defense asked me for deposition and I declined so defense subpoenaed me bc I saw him for a knee injury he had prior to accident and they were trying to argue that the injury was already present. I told them prior to deposition that I’d charge, sent them invoice right after, and still no payment 6mths later. Do I have no recourse bc I was subpoenaed? I do have corporate legal counsel but they have not been helpful .

[MPMD]

not a lawyer

for your first case (anxiety) here is what i would do: i would decline to provide a written report and charge 2 days normal pay for a dep, full fee in hand one week prior to dep, new fee assessed if dep rescheduled within 7 days (not biz days) of planned time, if fee not in hand 7 days prior to dep you cancel and double fee now assessed. charging many thousands of dollars for this is totally reasonable, you are an attending your time is extremely valuable. a deposition is a full day of clinic patients not being seen or an urgent care shift not being done. i would say $1500 is the absolute minimum here. as i often say you have a sacred duty to care for pts, you do not have a duty to assist in litigation. as i also often say, disagreeing with an attorney about things like fees and/or scheduling is not a crime. they can theoretically compel your testimony with a court order, even in that situation i would still charge them. remember in a situation like this if you are deposed to be scrupulously honest about what you know, don't speculate, you are not on anyone's team here.

for your second case (MVC): you are probably out of luck on this one. i would send another bill with a schedule for late fees and then forget about it. i wouldn't want to fight a litigator in small claims court. your hospital counsel is going to be of no use here.

[StarTrekDoc]

Another issue is if you're doing this under leave time or clinic time. You can have the system cover the clinic and charge fee schedule of hospital or if you take individual time for this and charge your own fee.

I typically refer to my great beaurcratic convulted system and let them handle the logistics and timing. Most never see the day of deposition.

If ultimately supeona then that's also system covered in costs.
Since you're in rvu system, you make sure system reimburses you on prorated time missed in total.