“Defensive Medicine” Makes Dollars, but No Sense.

Mike Ferrara

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 650

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The logic of all the “defensive medicine” talk doesn’t add up. Doctors all around the country insist that they often perform unnecessary tests and procedures to avoid malpractice suits, but when asked to provide a specific example of an unnecessary test or procedure they performed, they can’t give one. Performing medically unnecessary tests and/or procedures would, of course, constitute malpractice, so they won’t admit to a single case of it. You can’t have it both ways: either you’re performing unnecessary procedures or you’re not.

It’s also hard to believe that every doctor who admits to practicing defensive medicine is angry about all the extra money he or she is making because of it. Every test and procedure ordered, whether “necessary” or not, means a collected doctor fee.

As far as tort reform goes, it’s important to note that in Texas, which boasts the country’s strictest malpractice restrictions, malpractice premiums and lawsuits have gone way down. Yet, the cost of health care in Texas is the highest in the country, chiefly because doctors (according to experts in the state) are performing far more services than their patients actually need. Everyone profits but the patient.

While tort reform limits a patient’s right to a fair trial and right to compensation for injuries caused by negligent doctors, it doesn’t put an end to expensive medicine.