Ranting/looking for other reporter input

[Rosalie DeLeonardis]

I did a doctor depo that went into the evening. The depo was noticed by a hearing rep, but a lawyer from the firm actually took the depo, he was just observing. Also in attendance was the applicant's attorney. Throughout the entire depo they were refering to two doctor reports, so at break I told the attorney I was going to need a copy of the reports for spelling, and she said she would give me a copy.

At the conclusion we were discussing what exhibits I still needed, and also the copy of the reports. The hearing rep jumps in and says they're not exhibits, we don't release them, blah, blah, blah. I then start to explain the reason why I needed them, but the applicant attorney, along with the attorney from hearing rep's firm, said that I could have them, I just needed them for spellings. Well, hearing rep had to make the copies at the doctor's office, which he seemed really upset over because it was an old copy machine and he had to copy one at a time (he was very, very pissy), so I suggested that he colud e-mail them to me, and both hearing rep and attorney agreed.

Low and behold I get an e-mail this morning from the firm I worked for stating now the job's an expedite (okay, no big deal) and due to patient confidentiality the hearing rep said he could not give me the doctor's reports, if I had any questions he would help me. Since when did he get to overrule the applicant's attorney and the attorney from his office? I don't know about other reporters, but we always are marking as exhibits a patient's entire file and bringing home with us.

I'm debating on calling the applicant's attorney and just asking for him to send to me. I did tell my firm I was going to do that and they said do what I want, or I might just hold off until I'm done and do my own internet research for the proper spellings and/or names of authors, but why make my job more difficult when I could have just looked at the report, especially now that it's an expedite? Or another thing I could do is get his e-mail and e-mail him all the names I need spellings of and also cc both attorneys hoping that perhaps the attorney in hearing reps office will ask him how come he didn't send to me.

What is everyone else's opinion?

Another thing that was kind of funny, we were on break and the lawyer from his firm was talking with the doctor, he comes running in saying "We should go back on the record since the doctor is testifying." Attorney from his firm said he wasn't testiying, they we're just talking. Attorney also had to motion to him during the depo every time he talked not to talk. I guess he felt he was above everybody else and it was his depo. As you can see I'm pretty livid with this person's attitude.

[Rosalie DeLeonardis]

I should have waited for him to copy last night. I know I will probably work with the attorney from his office and hopefully she will ask me about the reports so I can tell her what he did (which I'm almost positive she doesn't know). The good news is I do have the audio where I can hear the words better than how I wrote them since the majority are words I've never written down before, and am able to find them on the internet, but I'm waisting a lot of time because of reading articles to make sure I have the correct word when I could have just went to the reports. I actually did call him to get his e-mail and made the mistake of asking for the other attorney's as well so I could cc her also, and of course his comment was just to e-mail him, and when I looked at attorney card, her e-mail is listed so I could be very spiteful and e-mail both of them! Thanks for your response.

[Marla Sharp]

I hate it when people are so stingy or untrusting of the reporter. It can be really irritating and get in the way of us doing the best job we can.

If I were you, I would email all parties involved and ask them for copies of the documents. Be sure to email them all at the same time so they can see there's no covert emailing going on. It will also help bring to everyone's attention that the jerk won't give you the documents. Also, be sure to put in the email that you have a shredder that you will use once you are finished getting what you need from the documents but that obtaining a copy of the documents is imperative to producing a completely accurate transcript.

I once had an attorney refuse to give me the exhibits that I'd marked during a depo. I couldn't believe it. He'd read from them like crazy, so I needed them to be sure I was quoting them correctly. He simply refused and made me feel like an idiot in front of the whole room. "Why on earth do you need those? That is just such a waste of my time to have to make copies for you. Didn't you get it down the first time?"

I tried to explain as calmly and nicely as I could that I needed them to be sure not only that I had the right words but that I had my quotation marks in the right place. Without seeing the document, sometimes it's impossible to tell where a quote begins. He didn't care. Refused to give them to me. I complained to my agency, and they somehow got him to email me a pdf of them.

Ugh. Why is it so hard sometimes?

Good luck to you. And fill us in on how it goes.

Marla

[Rosalie DeLeonardis]

First of all, thank you all responding to me, it's really appreciated.

I just e-mailed the job and am done. Thanks to the internet I was able to find all the spellings, authors and quotes.

I almost went ahead and e-mailed the hearing rep and the attorney, who are with the same firm but in different locations, just so the attorney would know what the hearing rep did, but decided not to. I figure I'll get even with him sooner of later, especially if I ever have a late depo where he's present or is actually taking the depo, I will go through each and every report and look for the spellings myself. and he will just have to wait. Boy, you don't know how much I'm looking forward to making him miserable.

Thank you all again for your feedback. I love this cite where I can vent.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Rosalie