Medical Lawsuits Force Defensive Medicine
by Thomas
The threat of medical lawsuits has not only increased medical malpractice insurance costs for physicians but also forced higher medical costs due to the practice of "defensive medicine" by many doctors. Doctors often order unnecessary tests and procedures for the purpose of building the patient's file as damage control just in case of a complaint or lawsuit by a patient. Such unnecessary steps inflate medical costs and thus increase insurance rates. As far as physicians are concerned, these protective practices lessen their potential liability. Who can blame them? The beneficiaries are the attorneys who file such lawsuits and run up healthcare costs for all of us.
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