Ninety Percent of Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine to Avoid Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Side note: Yet more proof that defensive medicine is costing our health care system big bucks. According to a survey from the Archives of Internal Medicine, 90% of doctors say they order more tests because of fear of medical malpractice lawsuits. With the annual cost of defensive medicine estimated to be $60 billion, reform has become a necessity.
Without tort reform, medical malpractice insurance rates will remain high, even for the best physicians and specialists. Physicians (and patients) will continue to be targeted for frivolous lawsuits – and all patients will end up paying a higher cost for care.
By Tanya Albert Henry, amednews correspondent.
Amednews
Whether a physician practices in a surgical or nonsurgical specialty, lives in New England or the Mountain states, one thing is the same: The vast majority of doctors practice defensive medicine to protect themselves from medical liability lawsuits.
