I certainly understand your frustration regarding the $600 billion a YEAR that physicians attest is due to FEAR of LAWSUITS!
Obama was so fearful of tanning salons..So why was malpractice/$600 billion defensive medicine NOT addressed as fervently as "Tanning Salons"???
If 1,231 physicians...(90%) Ninety percent of physicians surveyed said
"doctors overtest and overtreat to protect themselves from malpractice lawsuits.
"Defensive medicine is when doctors order multiple tests, MRIs and other procedures, not because the patient needs them, but to protect against litigation based on allegations that something should have been done but wasnt. according to the survey published Monday in Archives of Internal Medicine.
Besides more time-consuming appointments, patients are left with fewer services and less access to quality care as doctors either narrow their practices or leave the profession entirely."
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/E...take-on-trial-lawyers-in-speech-57953202.html
In recent studies, more than 90 percent of physicians reported practicing positive defensive medicine in the past 12 months; unnecessary imaging tests accounted for 43 percent of these actions. More than 92 percent of surgeons reported ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves.
Another study found a direct relationship between higher malpractice awards and malpractice premiums and Medicare spending, especially with imaging services. The increased spending, however, had no measurable effects on mortality.
In a recent Gallup survey, physicians attributed 34 percent of overall healthcare costs to defensive medicine and 21 percent of their practice to be defensive in nature. Specifically, they estimated that 35 percent of diagnostic tests, 29 percent of lab tests, 19 percent of hospitalizations, 14 percent of prescriptions, and 8 percent of surgeries were performed to avoid lawsuits.
Liability reform has been estimated to result in anywhere from a 5 percent to a 34 percent reduction in medical expenditures by reducing defensive medicine practices, with estimates of savings from $54 billion to $650 billion.
The costs of defensive medicine
But do you think the Press will share these stories with same intensity they pounded the The phrase in a google search "" Romney 47 percent" " found About About 53,400,000 results since Sept 2012 YET Obama's "obama electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" google since January 17, 2008 About 11,900 results.
NO... WHAT we all have to do is keep pounding the public NOT to believe the pack of lies especially about 50 million uninsured, or "you can keep your plan"...!
But, it hasn't turned out that way in the states which have adopted tort reform:
New study: Tort reform has not reduced health care costs in Texas | www.statesman.com