New Question about depo. questions...
 

I spoke with my Attorney yesterday about questions for the deposition that's coming up in December. She doesn't have a list for me to use, but of course, wants to look at anything I come up with. The list my p.t. provided was prety vague. How much can you lift, bend, etc. etc.

I've begunwriting down daily activities and will hopefully be able to organize them somehow, some way...

If any one has any other suggestions, please reply! :Ponder:

Thanks,
Cala

bump
 

Anyone????

C- has the other thread answered your questions? I guess I don't quite understand what you are asking here?

Hi Again,
 

I guess I was asking for a template of sorts, as Fern suggested on my original thread. I am trying to follow each of everyone's suggestions from that thread, and am nervous about leaving something significant out.

I've been to court 5 times now and it seems like the Insurance companies attorney always asks something I didn't anticipate. I'd like to feel like I have all my bases covered in this deposition.

Thanks anyways, I'll work with what you all have given me.

I appreciate your help, tremendously! :Thank you:

Cala

Cala,

I could not agree more with Tam. This is an improper question in an improper setting.

Although I understand and sympathize with your feeling in need of support, this is just way out of line and endangers your case in every way.

What happened to just answering questions as truthfully as possible. You cannot possibly have any idea of the impact your answers have, especially when they are not sincere and peppered with opinions and experiences of other people.

I have investigated persons who had been coached by personal friends, (police officers, no less). Their answers, based on that advice, resulted in a very negative result and may have (I never knew the results of my cases), cost them them their jobs and any chance of finding another position in their chosen professions.

I felt terrible for them when I had to confront them with the the proof of their deceptions and they had to make an official statement which will remain in their history forever.

These were (usually) good people who were nervous about the interview and ended up making a 'Federal Case' out of something minor.:(

This sort of request should be strongly discouraged in the future, for our own sakes.

Anne

okay- wait a minute...
 

I am here because my attorney suggested I ask you guys, as I asked her what to do when my Dr. asked me for a list.

Caladium,

I'm not trying to read your mind but to me you just sound anxious about an upcoming deposition, as anyone of us would. What I don't understand is why your doctor is requesting that you make a list. This is usually something an attorney would ask of you if he/she needed it. So I wonder why your atty isn't driving this process. If you need the list for the atty, try what was suggested, start with the material your PT put together, even if limited, and think through your usual day and unusual days like vacations, etc as well. Again, you aren't perfect and won't come up with everything you need, but please start the process. The more time you have (in my experience) the more you can refine it and think of most every issue that is relative to you and your life. We really all are individual and lead individual lives. Even if several of us have similar symptoms and limitations it will have a different effect on each of our lives. I think this goes for filling out other forms too, like applying for SSDI. What i am simply trying to say is that I wouldn't say I couldn't ride a horse or drive a stick if these are things I don't do with my life. And while one person could handwrite or compute for 10 minutes, another of us could for an hour; our bodies are very different.

I would encourage you to work with someone who is present in your life or even more than one person, someone who knows your work life and a partner or family member who knows your personal life.

Good luck with your list.

It's a shame,
 

There are some here, like Joanna, who can ask a question, such as she did- rather than going off on a tangient.

Yes Anne, it's not all about me. I never thought it was.

Everyone has misunderstood my question. Possibly I should have cleared things up sooner, but at this point, due to the tone in this thread and the usual people that have taken it to places it never had to go, I'll just take my questions elsewhere in the future.

Tam is talking about someone being coached for their deposition. Don't you think that's justs a bit extreme? Coaching... list of abilities before and after injury? Would you suggest I send my Dr. your post Tam? And then back it up with Anne's?

Again, my question was completely misunderstood, and anyone who wanted to remain anonymous could have p.m'd me.

Thanks also to those who are my friends, and have been so supportive. I'll continue to write to you on your e-mail addresses and keep up with you.

Cala

I think the point has been made that heading into a deposition, the BEST thing is to talk over worries with your attorney.

Caladium, please do not be stressed by this discussion, and see that I clearly put in that sentence that you had no ill intent and I guess I would add that I was writing about depositions in general and do not believe that you are coached personally. My concern was where the questions and answers were headed...since more questions were still being posed after we had exhausted our resevoir of collective, healthy answers. I can totally sympathize with your fear of more depositions.

Just fyi, I don't agree with printing out ANYONE's posts and giving them to anyone...we've had this discussion before, frankly, that the posts and information on them need to "stay here" when there was the topic of a depression poll for use in your legal case. And my whole point is that it would do anyone absolutely no good to try to involve our forum posts / opinions / symptoms in one's own case, to show to one's own doctor, or use in a deposition, as the focus of your treatment should be on your particular symptoms as well as the relevant point of your case is your own unique disabilities. My posts, or Anne's, simply are not relevant. Having a "template" prepared by someone here would actually, possibly, get a person into a tough corner perhaps, where "appearances" DO matter.

I do not practice right now - at all - but I just remembered a tactic that some attorneys use to catch a deponent where they will ask the deponent questions about who they "prepared with" for the deposition, or if they have a little list or paper with them, "who created that document", etc. This would sometimes result in some pretty ugly answers - such as, I got this list from my friend who wanted to help me...or I prepared with my friends who also had depositions...or my attorney and I spent two days preparing (from which an appearance of coaching can be drawn from such an unreasonable amount of time being the key issue there.) I can't remember all of the tricks, but yes, now they are coming back to me, and again that's where and why it's so important to just talk to your attorney - they will know the boundaries of appropriateness - and confirms for me, that my concerns over these questions and where we were headed as a group was correct. Be careful.

But, don't freak out. The kind of fraud that a deposition is supposed to uncover involve issues where there are previous illnesses that matter, and they haven't been disclosed; if there are other business or recreational activities which have a bearing on the illness and those have not been disclosed; or describing one's illness in a way that is TOTALLY contradicted by what that person does everyday openly and in a really shocking fashion - a person who says they are bedridden but then they go off on safari in the bush and there are films of this person climbing Mt. Everest; or if the person someone is saying they are, they aren't! I call this BIG fraud - the kind where you can't believe someone has kept it a secret - the kind where you are shocked. Each case has a few sensitive points, but that's where the attorney comes in to help counsel - not coach to supplant your testimony with his - you to know how best you can handle it, bearing in mind what is truthful. So for the vast majority of us, we get all nervous and worried when in fact we do very well in the deposition because we are honestly and accurately reflecting our disability / illness.

So you see it isn't so much that you "get everything in", as much as what you do say, is accurate and doesn't contradict something else you've said.

God bless you all in your legal matters regarding your TOS and other diagnoses.

Tam and Anne,
 

You don't seem to be understanding.

I am not having my deposition taken. All I asked for was a list.

Unfortunately Tam, "talking my worries over with my attorney" is not necessary. A list was requested of me, and she suggested I ask about one here.

I suppose I could have p.m.'d Fern or someone else who consistently responds to the question asked, to protect everyones anonymity; maybe in the future, I'll do that.

As long as you are going to bring up the past, I have asked you before to please carefully read questions posed, so that situations like this do not occur.

Also, ALL of the concerns you have brought up in the past regarding my case, have not occured. Possibly the Insurance Companies attorney is not as good of an attorney as you were, maybe things are different in my area. I believe my case would show that my attorney and I have been careful, and honest.

Also, Anne, I think your comment "Some people just have to learn the hard way" was insulting. I would appreciate an apology. In the future, should I post again, please don't respond. I really am not interested in your opinion/ advice.

Tam, I'd like to make the same request of you also.

Cala

Caladium,

I suggest you read the post regarding 'anonymity' and take it to heart.

I do not play these emotional oneupmanship games and my post was to provide information to the forum in general.

Do not assume that the attorneys for the insurance company are 'not as good of an attorney' as you imagine. I have worked with many Insurance Investigators and they can (and sometimes should), be ruthless.

Fraud is so rampant that we are all paying the price for it. Your post was a giant red flag. This is YOUR future, not mine, you are playing with. If you don't get that, you will be taking unnecessary chances with your case.

The questions mentioning the term 'DEPOSITION' were clear enough. WE are not dumb.

Do not presume to tell me, or anyone else whether or not we can post appropriate responses on the forum.

If my comment regarding 'learning the hard way', got your attention, then I have accomplished my goal.

Your choice to be insulted appears to be YOUR goal.

Finis!,
Anne[/FONT]

To keep on track I reposted the original post.
I'd like to suggest that personal issues are best worked out via PM or another option is the Ignore feature.

the best way to get a list
 

is to go to a different PT who will do a full exam and range of motion testing as well as lifting capabilities. You need a medical opinion here. A massage therapist can also do this type of examination, however I believe there is more involved with the PT exam. I paid 150 dollars (cdn) for my exam as I wanted to know the exact same thing. The BEST way is for an IME done by somebody you know or are aware of as being on top of their game as far as legalities go and honesty. Make sure whoever you go to works for you and not anybody else you don't want a skewed opinion. A consult with both a PT and an occupational therapist would also help. The OT could say what you are able to do with assistive devices and not able to do on your own.

I hope this helps to answer your question. I hope you are not holding grudges. It is a shame to see kindness as an insult.

Sincerely,
Victoria

I have been responding to ALL of the posts...including the one for doctor's questions, deposition, and now this one which seems to reflect "worry" (my words) over what an insurance attorney can do in what appears to be either testimony or deposition.

My reponses are written for everyone.

It dawned on me "how this could look" if one or more questions were asked along the lines of "who helped you prepare, or who prepared this list." So I am expressing my concerns and trying to think of things a defense attorney could do, for everyone's sake who is in a legal setting.

I stand by my concerns, but whether one wants to read them or not, is up to each person.

I appreciate everyone's responses here, and there's been an attempt a couple of times thus far to bring the thread back from some going "back and forth" in ways that are bringing about some negative feelings and comments.

I feel this thread has pretty well run its course in the responses to the OP and, in an attempt to help us move away from the upsetting/potentially upsetting, I'll be closing the thread.

Again, I appreciate everyone's comments.

KD