I'm kinda pissed part 3

Keeping up? Hearing was February 5th. During the hearing the opposing attorney said that my doctor wanted to charge his firm 6 grand for a deposition, suggested that it was not 'reasonable and customary' and I found it humorous, thinking my doctor just didn't want to talk to him. Not that I blame him. :)

But I got a call from the paralegal who works for my attorney on February 17th.

She had quite a lot of urgency in her voice.
Informed me that if Dr. Slice and Dice did not lower his deposition fee for the amazing and charitable law firm of Humanitarian and Philanthropist that ALL of his testimony would be stricken from the record. Not a good thing.

She suggested that I call the doctor's office and see if I could get them to lower their fee.

I did a little freakout, which is one of my biggest talents. Calmed down a little. Decided that rather than run the gauntlet of people layers (we all know how doc offices are designed... you have to state your case to 8 people before you can even leave a message for the doctor to call you.. and each layer is there to dissuade you and insulate THEM) I'd write him another letter.

Back in 2009 after the shoulder surgery, I went in for a routine post surgery check, and my doctor HURT me. He yanked my arm one way and then the other, nearly bringing me to my knees with shock and pain.

After I calmed down and gave it a little thought, I knew that he hadn't done it on purpose.  But I could not go back and see him again until I was certain that he would not surprise me so I wrote him a letter about it.

Matt hand delivered the letter to the front desk at the office. It was addressed to Dr. Slice and Dice and marked 'contents personal'. It was between us. I didn't think the entire office needed to be informed.

The doctor called me. We talked on the phone for about 20 minutes. He was kind and apologetic. He was not aware that he'd scared me. Assured me that he would not do so again.

Our relationship was fine after that, and when it was time to have the ACL repaired, I was confident that he'd take good care of me. He did, too.

So when I got the call in February, I decided that a letter was the best (and most expedient) way to communicate. When the envelope is marked 'contents personal' it's kind of a direct line, ya know?

And when I write, I can carefully choose what I want to say and the tone in which I say it. I can look at it and think about it and read it over and over until it says things exactly the way I want.

Dear Dr. Slice and Dice,

I'm asking you to reconsider the deposition fee you've asked from the bottom feeding filthy scum sucking mutants otherwise known as Humanitarian and Philanthropist Inc.

I understand that another deposition about a case in your distant past is really nothing but a pain in the ass. I'd have to agree, and I sympathize.

The problem though, is that if you won't talk to them, all your testimony will be dumped from the record and the judge currently holding this case will not get the whole story.

These people? (I question their humanity, yes) have done everything they can to discredit me on a personal basis. Excruciating details cheerfully provided, but no guarantee that my story won't be liberally laced with profanity.

Let's just say for now that I have learned the work comp system does not exist to protect injured workers, instead enriching people whose sole function is to win the big legal chess game.

It's about legal wrangling and large quantities of male bovine fecal matter.

Almost everyone loses sight of the fact that there's a living, breathing human person behind the case numbers and legal maneuvering.
Since in this instance, it's me, it's sort of hard to lose sight of it.

Please. Lower your fee and talk to these (expletives deleted) attorneys.

I'd be grateful.

Ami Mental      123 456 7890

I got a call the very next morning. And the person I talked to was utterly shocked that Mr. Statesman had said that the office wanted to charge six grand for a deposition, as that had NEVER been true, no one in the office would ever say that, and that every attorney who asked Dr. Slice and Dice to sit for a deposition was charged the exact same amount for his time.

I called my attorney with that information.
It wasn't long before a letter arrived. A copy of what my attorney had sent to the presiding judge, detailing the fee schedule for the surgeon and adding, "therefore it appears the fee for a deposition from this doctor is x amount."

Funny that somehow that information hadn't made it to the hearing, isn't it?