My partner recently commented upon a new study which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine which found that “tort reform” had little to no effect on the rate at which tests were ordered or treatment given in emergency departments in three states. A link to the study is here. I wanted to make a few additional observations.
As this study and the many which have preceded it show “defensive medicine” is a myth used by the medical profession and its insurers to deprive consumers of their rights while at the same time lining their pockets. They claim that doctors are forced to order expensive treatments and tests out of fear of being sued. There are two important factors which are never mentioned by these proponents of “tort reform”.
In the first place, doctors make money from these tests and treatments. As many have pointed out over the years, medicine is a big business in this country from which many have gotten rich. When there is a financial incentive to order a test or to perform a treatment, some doctors will succumb to the lure of more money and order the test or do the procedure, whether the patient needs it or not. The Wall Street Journal, no bastion of liberal or anti-business sentiment, has been running stories for years about the amounts some doctors charge Medicare for unnecessary tests and treatments. By coincidence, another article appeared today. It can be found here. The article shows how doctors who share in the profits generated by an expensive test order it way out of proportion to doctors who don’t share in the profits. The simple fact of the matter is that doctors make money out of practicing what they call “defensive medicine” and use the threat of medical malpractice suits as a convenient excuse for ripping off the public. Not only does this excuse their behavior, it may have the added benefit of restricting the rights of those patients they injure. Two for the price of one. Meanwhile, it is we patients who are paying for this behavior.
The other thing that never gets mentioned by the medical profession is that “defensive medicine” is unethical. It is unethical for a doctor to order a test or perform a procedure on a patient which the patient does not need and to do it solely for the benefit of the doctor. And yet that is exactly what they say they are doing when they practice “defensive medicine”.
Doctors who lament the fact that they are forced to practice “defensive medicine” are crying all the way to the bank while they continue what is clearly unethical behavior. Don’t buy what they are selling.
