To: Wharf Rat who wrote (134359 ) 6/13/2013 4:18:18 PM From: John Vosilla Respond to A Costly Defense: Physicians Sound Off on the High Price of Defensive Medicine The American Consumer Insitute for Citizen Research: Defensive Medicine May Cost Consumers Money and Good Treatment misdiagnoses and inappropriate treatments in 15% of patient illnesses , which results in almost 100,000 deaths each year. With yearly health care costs nearing $2.5 trillion, the 15% error rate suggests up to $375 billion may be spent in inappropriate treatments.($3,000 to $201,000 per year) . The AMA says 93% of physicians practice defensive medicine to lower the chance of being sued . Doctors avoid “risky” treatments such as trauma surgery or traditional childbirth ,thus withholding appropriate medical treatment. They avoid patients who are likely to be litigious. They conduct extra, unneeded tests and seek unneeded second opinions to build a thicker defense in case they are sued. They also hospitalize patients to reduce liability risk .Defensive medicine costs were estimated at $70 billion per year in 2000 and $191 billion to $239 billion in 2008 , but the direct cost of liability insurance and jury awards is in the tens of billions of dollars. Patients and taxpayers ultimately pay for both defensive medicine and liability costs. Contrary to popular ignorance, the costs don’t disappear into the insurance cloud.Sanjay Gupta: “More is Not Always Better” defensivemedicine.org
