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I joined forces with the 3 original MTs in their pursuit to bring MQ to court.

Posted By: Semantics or MQ defender? on 2005-07-27
In Reply to: Talk about blowing smoke! No one, not one MQ MT has "joined" the class action suit. - MTQ

Get over yourself.


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Has anyone had court reporter training or looked into court reporting?
I am thinking about taking a distance learning course in court reporting and I was just wondering if anyone has tried it, done it, looked into it and what they have found out.  If you have gone to school for it or are going to school for it or know anything about court reporting could you share what you know with me?  I have been in the transcription field for 15 years and I thought that might be something that I could bridge over to pretty easily, but not sure.  Any comments on this idea?  Thanks everyone for your help!
maybe he's thinking of a plan to join forces with winner of HOH?
The thing with Kaysar is he wants to do everything perfect and wants to win so he fights to win HOH even if Janelle would not put him up for evictions. That's why people like Kaysar.
last time I was in court -- no court reporter
I have taken my ex back to court a few times in the past couple of years and there was no court reporter in the room... In fact it was mentioned that they make a recording of the proceedings and then it is transcribed... I just asked a simple question if anybody knew if this job could be done at home and based on my experience it would make sense that it could be. No need to get nasty.
I was going to say unless you were the original 3 brave souls named on the original suit.
I still had heard lately that no one else, not one person, had been allowed to join in, so you must be in a separate class??
and joined?
Do they keep your info confidential - don't want to be fired, but I do want to join.
I saw this too, I joined.

Certainly can't hurt.


I joined when they first started. sm
I disagree totally with old MT, so sorry.  I trust we are allowed our opinions.  Other than being a really expensive publishing house (Stedmans is way better AND cheaper) they haven't fulfilled any promises, espeically the most important ones.  Now reading this, they are actually in India meeting with the Indians and forming a "network."  Whose interest do they have at heart?  Sorry, I quit them and I am glad I quit them.  Let them make their money stabbing us in the back.  I think clubs like AAMT are oftentimes just a social event with an empty payback.  And that's how I see AAMT.  There are too many bad CMTs out there to make the CMT worth anything.  I guess this is the way the steel industry and automotive industry went, head in the sand and daily platitudes from the higher ups tht all was well.  I guess it is in AAMT-land, where THEIR pockets are lined, just like corporate America.  It never hurts to live in the real world. Phooey on AAMT.
re-joined AAMT
I re-joined AAMT. Especially appreciate the journal articles and quizzes about diseases, procedures and medications I would not otherwise know. I feel more competent because of this and probably save time looking things up.
I joined for free as they do not take
any payment info, so therefore they cannot automatically bill you. Just wanted to check it out.
Don't do it! I wasted my money when I joined, and

I will NOT be renewing. They support offshoring. They're trying to get an RMT exam up and running now, hoping that it will become essential to employment (right now it's elective). They support an apprenticeship program on which they helped get the ball rolling with AHIMA. This program hasn't come out yet but will if they can iron out the wrinkles. This program calls for TWO YEARS of apprenticeship making practically minimum wage to start and not ending much higher than that. It will only accept graduates from AAMT-approved schools, and it's going to drive the MT pay rate down even further! As if we need that!


And I could tell you more stories!


Joined up with the old folks group and
starting doing ceramics and now they have a travel group, wanting to plan a trip to Italy. That is right down my alley! Another trip before too long is Macinaw (spelling?) Island in Michigan. Now with my other 2 vacations this year, this senior citizen group should just be the therapy I need.
Your child JOINED military. Did she do so with

Sounds like apple doesnt fall far from tree if she made life changing move with no forethought.  You say this is 2nd tour. To me that that means she and her hubby signed up for second time so its not like this was sprung on all of you. You need to learn to look ahead and plan better.  And I dont mean plan on better ways to rob your fellow citizens.


not a shock - they were bought or joined up with Healthscribe
who has a huge office in India and does not make it a secret that they outsource. Healthscribe also got into a bit of trouble a couple of years ago for "altering" lines on US transcriptionists;
When I joined a couple of years ago it was something like $30 a month and you could either pay

monthly or have it deducted automatically from your account.  If you elected to pay monthly, I think the membership went up about $5 to $10.


There wasn't any high pressure sales.  I basically called them and asked could I come in a check it out and they give you like a week trial or two weeks (my memory is sooo bad!).  Then if you decide to become a member, you fill out the paperwork and they weigh and measure you (fun, fun) and file it all away.  And then periodically they will ask if you want to be weighed and measured to see how much you've lost.


They are really encouraging there (at mine anyway).  They gave way prizes for different things like if you came a certain amount of times in like three months, you got a T-shirt.  And then there are prizes for when you lose 10, 20, etc pounds.  And at mine everyone had a little paper doll that started out at 0 and when you lost weight you moved your little paper doll around on the wall.  It was kind of fun.


Well, I've just convinced myself! 


I wish I had read this board before I joined Softscript

Not only were they liars and cheats but they are incredibly Dumb.  The VP of Human Resources has to be one of the most incompetent people on the face of the earth.  No, don't quit your good job for THIS MESS.  Run away!  Run away!


I'd be interested in joining that lawsuit... 


Her child was not drafted, JOINED military. Do
x
I joined in the 70's because their goal then was professional wages.
it's 2008. they must not be very good at what they do. However, they do self promote extremely well.

Court?

Thought I had a great, lengthy report the other day, for it to be over 7 minutes of one physician talking with another about getting sued by a patient due to overmedicating - the patient overmedicated, but the doctor prescribed the meds.  Anyway - have any of you ever had to go to court and testify?  This, along with Dr.Infection (almost every report I get is someone who has had surgery and now is infected - and this is not an infectious disease physician but the surgeon), I am wondering if I will ever get called in.  I can't believe that none of these patient's are suing.  Just wanted to vent and get someone's take on this.


 


 


They bring it on themselves.
and then expect everyone else to overlook the facts.

* According to the latest US Department of Justice survey of crime victims, more than 6.6 million violent crimes (murder, rape, assault and robbery) are committed in the US each year, of which about 20 per cent, or 1.3 million, are inter-racial crimes.

* Most victims of race crime - about 90 per cent - are white, according to the survey “Highlights from 20 Years of Surveying Crime Victims", published in 1993.

* Almost 1 million white Americans were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by black Americans in 1992, compared with about 132,000 blacks who were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by whites, according to the same survey.

* Blacks thus committed 7.5 times more violent inter-racial crimes than whites even though the black population is only one-seventh the size of the white population. When these figures are adjusted on a per capita basis, they reveal an extraordinary disparity: blacks are committing more than 50 times the number of violent racial crimes of whites.

* According to the latest annual report on murder by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, most inter-racial murders involve black assailants and white victims, with blacks murdering whites at 18 times the rate that whites murder blacks.

These breathtaking disparities began to emerge in the mid-1960s, when there was a sharp increase in black crime against whites, an upsurge which, not coincidentally, corresponds exactly with the beginning of the modern civil rights movement. Over time, the cumulative effect has been staggering. Justice Department and FBI statistics indicate that between 1964 and 1994 more than 25 million violent inter-racial crimes were committed, overwhelmingly involving black offenders and white victims, and more than 45,000 people were killed in inter-racial murders. By comparisons 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam, and 34,000 were killed in the Korean war.When non-violent crimes (burglary, larceny, car theft and personal theft) are included, the cumulative totals become prodigious. The Bureau of Justice Statistics says 27 million non-violent crimes were committed in the US in 1992, and the survey found that 31 per cent of the robberies involved black offenders and white victims (while only 2 per cent in the reverse).

When all the crime figures are calculated, it appears that black Americans have committed at least 170 million crimes against white Americans in the past 30 years. It is the great defining disaster of American life and American ideals since World War II. All these are facts, yet by simply writing this story, by assembling the facts in this way, I would be deemed a racist by the American news media. It prefers to maintain a paternalistic double-standard in its coverage of black America, a lower standard.

Not to mention drugs, irresponsible reproducing habits, and welfare fraud. Gee, they have an attitude? Aw, too bad.
then you should bring it to someone's
attention. My paycheck has always been correct.
Sure - bring it on! nm
z
Bring it on!!!
/
DMV/Traffic Court

Out here in CA, if you have unpaid tickets, a warrant is issued.  So when you show up at DMV or the court house, you most probably will have to pay right away or explain to a justice why you need an extension to pay.  They probably wont want to hear the argument that it was your sister cause you dont have proof.  You will be responsible and then you can kick your sisters butt or sue her. I have a friend who had outstanding speeding ticket and the cops came to her house, arrested her and she had to spend the weekend in jail till Monday when her boyfriend was able to bring the money to the court house. 


Out here, we have cameras at stop lights and on different roads..So when someone is exceeding the speed limit or goes through a red light, the camera takes a picture.  You never see an officer, you receive the ticket in the mail and they have the picture for proof.  Good luck to you. 


 


Court Hearings
I have been offered a job to supplement my medical transcription job. The job is transcribing court hearings.
court reporting
I have a friend who did court reporting for many years. She made excellent money, but had back trouble and neck, arm and carpal tunnel problems. The machine she had to tote around is quite heavy, even in a roller suitcase, was not easy, especially if elevators were out and she had to be on the third floor. Of course, no one ever offered to help her with the suitcase. She did her own editing and printing out of all her depositions and made probably $70,000 to $85,000 per year attending all the courts and taking depositions. She gave it up because of her hands and back and is now a paralegal. after going to college for that. She loved it though and used to call me for medical words she was stuck on....
Court Reporting
I actually graduated from CR school in Iowa and use my machine to transcribe.  I would never discourage anyone from trying, but be aware that is very difficult to learn and achieving speeds takes dedication and a lot of time and practice.  It sure isn't as easy as it looks, but the payoff is great in the end.  I couldn't transcribe w/out my machine!
COURT REPORTING???
Has anyone out there ever thought of going from being an MT to court reporting?  I have been transcribing for almost 15 years now.  I know that the pay scale is better for court reporters, and there are schools that offer on-line classes now.  I just wonder what the job prospects were.  I have only known 2 court reports and both of them were working as MTs.  Any info, anybody?  Thanks
court reporting
I often think about court reporting too. I was told just recently by a court reporter if I was going to do it to go into real time reporting, don't know much about it, other than it is doing caption work for live tv.
court reporting
She's right, there are no jobs...they're all held by people who have no intention of giving them up and the rest of the court reporters are doomed to working for services. How do I know? My daughter attended a local college for this, finished the course with excellent grades and looked for a job but could not find an opening within reasonable distance. Tuition is horribly expensive also, so she's now in debt to the tune of approximatey 14,000 dollars, luckily it's Sallie Mae and is at 2.12%. Don't do it! This job is just too hard on your body and mind (if you do get a job, all you'll be hearing is about murders, drug deals, divorces and child abuse), and who needs that? In West Virginia, a court reporter starts out at 13,000 a year -you could make that McDonald's, easy, without having to repay an education loan. The local college's ads say Make $60,000 a year your first year...that is also bs. It's more like $28,000.
why would YOU get called into court?
All you know is what is in the medical record. You have nothing else to do with it...
Court Reporting vs MT

Hello all !   Years ago I considered getting into court reporting, but back then I remember being told you only get paid PER PAGE/LINE, and not for your time in the court room when you're recording the cases. Recently I was told a court reporter gets anywhere from $3 to $5 per page.


Does anyone have any info on how payment for court reporters works? Is the above true?  I thought MT was a better-paying position, as the whole go-to-work-and-jot-down-the-text part was eliminated - and we (used to) make good money doing MT. 


Any info would be interesting! Thanks  !


Court reporting (see m)
Hi - if you work for a court, you are paid an annual salary plus benefits, starting around 50k per year, just for sitting in court and taking down the proceedings and even if no one orders a transcript. On top of that, you also get transcript fees (if anyone orders a transcript) of $3 to $5 per page and more if you provide RealTime. Most court days come out to about 250 pages of transcript, so if someone orders even the cheapest transcript that's $750 right there.

Court reporting is much more lucrative than MT if you can get a full-time job with a court.

If you freelance and take depositions, then you can charge the parties an appearance fee for showing up, plus the transcript per-page fee, but it's usually a bit less lucrative than a courthouse position.
court reporting
thanks for the info! It's a better position than I was aware !
Court action

I am not sure what your limit is for small claims court, it used to be $3500 here but know it has changed.   If it is more than one doctor in practice, you need to find out how they are listed through their business license, etc. through the state.  They helped me at the courthouse how to do this as it had to be listed exactly.  If you want to make a last ditch effort and make sure it isn't just the office manager that is not paying you, send a certified letter to each doctor that has to be signed by them and them only outlining what you will be doing and why.  You can act as your own collection agency instead of paying someone a commission to collect the money from you.   That is why I always keep on file a copy of their checking account number that they pay me on as I did sue once and we used it to collect the funds.  Also if the 7K is over the amount of small claims, then perhaps breaking out each individual doctor is under the amount.  But that is a pretty big amount and cannot believe that you let it go that high unless it is a large account and that is only one to two month's worth.  But again, try to get the correspondence directly to the docs as sometimes they do not know that the bill is going unpaid.   Good luck, let us know what happens.   Hopefully you are no longer providing service to this clinic.  Do some digging and get home address phone numbers if you are that gutsy and for that amount I would probably do it. 


Again, good luck.


 


 


Court transcription
Most of court recordinds are now done on CD's during the hearings.  If someone wants a transcript you can buy the CD.  I have done some when they were on tapes and they are not wasy to transcribe with voices coming over voices, not being able to hear clearly, etc.  A friend of mine works for an atty and she sometimes has to transcribe the CD's and she has torecord them over to tapes to transcribe -- now not sure if they would work with a .WAV pedal or not.  But again, it is worse than insurance depositions or interviews as someone is always talking over someone else and it is hard to place the microphone where everyone that says something says it.  And you never know when someone will want one transcribed.   I acatually got a CD from my divorce hearing. 
Court recordings

Well over half and probably 75% of court recordings are now on CD's as well as dispositions and are being transcribed only if necessary or requested and many times at home by some of us. 


Court Reporting
The poster is right in that it's a hard field to get into, at least in our area at the Courthouse, but there is always freelancing. You can make really good money if you're good. I do know that when I took ShortHand a long time ago (I was a legal secretary), there were court reporter students in the class and the machine looked really hard. You have to have tremendous speed. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
court reporting
I used to transcribe for a friend who was a court reporter and she did voice recording. This was 15 years ago though. She had a 2-track tape recorder. She would repeat everything being said in the courtroom into a small microphone, that I believe was almost like a mask. One track of the tape would record the court proceedings, and the other track would record her. I would transcribe the court proceedings, and if I could not understand something, I would switch to the other track, and it would be her repeating the testimony, etc. Not sure if they even do this anymore, but she made a lot of money at the time.
court reporting

 


Recently there had been an ad in our local paper for a full-time court reporter for the superior court in our local area.  It was advertised at $78,000 per year with full federal benefits, and bonus days off like President's day (when was the last time a MT got paid for being off on President's Day?)   Again, I too pick the wrong career and should have went into court reporting but at that time (in 1976) there was not a lot of interest in that field so I just went into transcription training and here I am 30 years later.  Can you still teach an old dog new tricks?


 


 


IT COULD LAND IN COURT SM
Sorry for the shouting, I also did legal and one of my reports from a service with my initials on it was evidence and they questioned the doc on the stand. They say the report belongs to the doc but who knows when this will change. Thank goodness I had nothing to do with it, but they did ask him where it was typed, by whom, the time and date. Some docs do doctor the date to cover their kiesta and that's a hard decision to make. If the case were serious enough, I would question it or send it back with a note and document that note and make a copy. Sorry to be so serious but I've been in this a long time and I've hear it all. Lots of CYA stuff goes on (cover your -ss)
Court reporting
Yes, I've been through CR school. If you want to do it, go for it, but fair warning...you have to be married to that machine and have no life outside of it until your graduate. I agree with the other poster...it is extremely difficult, and unless you can dedicate 100% of your time to it, it's near impossible to make it through the course.
court reporting
I spent almost 3 years in CR school, was about to graduate and began to hate every minute I was chained to that machine. The school also had a MT program, so most of my credits transferred. Of the people that I knew who did go on to that career were disappointed with the money. Be careful researching this career and make sure you really want to do it. You really are a slave to that machine in court.
Took MTSO to court. sm
She only owed me a little, but refused to pay. Left post if I should sue or not, and I did!!!

Lawyer is waiting for check from MTSO, so I should get it shortly thereafter. Who knew???
MT to court reporter?

Does anyone have experience with CR training?  Anyone made the transition from MT to CR, or the other way around?  I am looking into this as an alternative to MT.  My chief regret is that it is rather late in life for me to invest in expensive/lengthy training.  I should have seen the writing on the wall long before this, as far as MT is concerned. 


My post on a court reporter board met with thundering disinterest...not a single reply.  Would appreciate input on this if anyone has first or even secondhand experience.


Court Reporting

I definitely would go to school for court reporting, but unfortunately I am too old (64). I know this would be very interesting. Where I live near Chicago, they have an excellent court reporting program that a person can take.


Also, you can work at home eventually. Like I said if I were younger, I would go for court reporting.


court reporting
Go for it! You can do it. If I lived near a school, I would try it myself. I am 69 and will be 70 in the fall plus I am a disabled person (terrible back after surgery). Do not let your age stop you for doing anything. At the rate it is going now days, you might live to be 90 or 100. Just think all the productive years you have ahead of you!
Oh really? Does the stork bring them too?
xxx
AND wow the bucks you can bring in without having
x
She'd bring home more at 30 CPL...
...but do I deserve that for just sitting on my arse and typing? :) No.

Gas stations make a lot of money. Why do attendants only get minimum wage.

If you're THAT good, you'd be an MTSO.

Start your own business. Don't be lazy AND greedy.
I have them at my desk but no, I don't bring anything
to the living room to work. I've been on my same accounts with each company I work for since I started with them and I know the dictators extremely well.

I have an advantage with Spheris that I don't with MQ in that I can look up past reports by any criteria - by dictator, by patient, etc., to find anything that is a pattern.

The only book I occasionally reference is Tessier's The Surgical Word Book. Other than that, I have many online refences provided by both companies that they specifically want me to use.

I've done this over 20 years and I'm very fortunate -- I just don't have to look many things up anymore. When I do, it is usually a new product - instrument, drug, procedure, treatment, etc. Yesterday, I had to look up "Fansler speculum", which I had never had before. Probably refer to that book maybe 2-3 times a week. Spheris always sends me a new updated word list that includes newest information about every month. MTDesk has some really good references.

I have well over 70 websites that are "favorites" for reference.

When I travel and want to work, I only take The Surgical Word Book with me.

Effect (bring about)
nm