Can A Doctor Charge $1500 for a Deposition?

I have a personal injury case in Tennessee.  My doctor has to give a deposition in my case and my lawyer just told me that the doctor charges $1500 per hour for a deposition.  What is going on?  I have already paid this doctor over $15,000 to care for me and now he wants to charge $1500 per hour to talk about it!!! 

Unfortunately, this is getting to be a bigger and bigger problem.  A doctor is permitted to charge for their time when  asked to give a deposition involving care which he or she gave to a patient who is involved in a lawsuit.  The charge must be "reasonable."

So, the question is $1500 per hour "reasonable?"   Part of it depends on how much the doctor ordinarily charges for his time.  In a 2000 hour year a charge of $1500 per hour results in revenue of $3,000,000 per year.  

The lawyer for the patient has a different job here.  The lawyer does not want to offend the doctor who hopefully will testify favorably for his patient, but the lawyer hates to spent so much money to get this testimony.  

A wish I had a better answer to this question.  It is truly unfortunate that this is an issue.