Interplay of Rule 32 and Hearsay

Larry Primeaux wrote an excellent article this morning dealing with the interplay of Rule 32 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure and Rule 804 of the Mississippi Rules of Evidence dealing with doctors depositions and the use of depositions of an unavailable party.  The article is here.  Usually this issue can be taken care of by stipulation.  I have in the past asked the court for permission to allow a "trial deposition" of a witness and having the court to essentially make that deposition part of the proceeding just as if court was going on then.  I have never had any problem with that and most opposing counsel do not either.  My experience has been that the testimony gets worse for the opposing party when they object to not allowing a party to offer testimony by trial deposition and they have to appear.