Defensive Medicine: Doctors Can’t Afford To Treat Patients

John Edwards -- Laughing All The Way To The BankThe Sac Bee reports: “High medical malpractice insurance premiums have changed the way many of the nation’s doctors practice medicine, prompting them to refuse some patients with complex problems and to do unnecessary tests on others.

It’s called “defensive medicine” - an extra X-ray here, an additional blood test there. And it can involve surgeons refusing to do the riskiest operations or to treat the sickest patients.

Ninety percent of physicians in high-risk specialties such as emergency medicine and neurosurgery practice defensive medicine, according to a survey of Pennsylvania doctors published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Very troubling news. And like other national issues, it appears healthcare reform requires more than just money. It demands reform of the legal system.

Wonder what John Edwards has to say about this?

One Response to “Defensive Medicine: Doctors Can’t Afford To Treat Patients”

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