Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

provide as little speculation from the client as possible. If the question is even
slightly ambiguous, the attorney will refuse to provide an answer until the
ambiguities have been resolved. This process of disputing the interrogatories can
take several months and one or more hearings before the judge. Interrogatories can
be a cost-effective way of collecting information, but in practice they are often
abused.
b) Requests for Admissions
Like interrogatories, these may be directed only at parties to the litigation. Unlike
interrogatories, however, the questions do not allow for narrative answers. Each
question is phrased so that it must be answered as “admitted” or “denied.” Requests
for admissions are used to delineate which facts are not in issue and may thus be
agreed to before trial. A typical question might be, “Admit or deny that you treated
plaintiff on 23 October 1985.”
Once an item has been admitted or denied, the court is reticent about allowing the
answer to be changed. The party requesting the right to amend a request for
admissions has the burden of convincing the court that there is a good reason that
the original answer is incorrect. Conversely, the party requesting the admissions
must ask simple and unambiguous questions if he or she wants the answers to be
effective in court.
c) Depositions by Written Questions
These written questions resemble interrogatories, but they may be addressed to any
person or entity, not just persons who are party to the litigation. Before a deposition
on written questions is sent to the deponent, it must be sent to the other parties in
the lawsuit. Any other party may object to a question or request that additional
(cross) questions be asked, serving the purpose of cross- examination.
(Interrogatories do not require cross-questions because there will be other
opportunities to cross-examine the party.) In a deposition by written questions, a
third party, such as a notary public or process server, presents the questions to the
deponent. The questions are answered in the presence of the third party, who also
attests that the answers are properly sworn.
The most common use of depositions by written questions is to establish the
authenticity of medical and other business records. Some states also allow
depositions by written questions as proof that the charges to the patient were
reasonable and customary. They must be answered by either the person who made
the entry or by the custodian of the records. The custodian does not need to have
personal knowledge of the entries in question to testify about the recordkeeping
protocol. However, the custodian must be able to answer certain legal questions for
the medical records to be admissible in the court.
In the following example, the required set of questions is directed to a witness who
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