The Cost of Defensive Medicine to Patient Safety

A recent Gallup study among 462 doctors revealed that a whopping 26% of our healthcare costs cover “defensive medicine.”

If you’re not familiar with this term, think about the times your doctor has ordered a test for you that seems a little on the “iffy” side – you’re not quite sure what the heck the test is for, or you’ve been through it before, and it seems like a big waste of time to you. But you dutifully follow doctor’s orders because, after all, insurance is paying for it anyway.

On the other hand, maybe you’ve insisted on a test that gave your doctor cause for pause. You didn’t want to go to the effort of getting a second opinion, so you insisted until your doctor relented, and then off you went… for a CAT scan, MRI, stress test, or blood work.

In these scenarios, the undercurrent driving tests and procedures is fear – fear in your doctor’s heart that if any possible stone is left unturned, that you, dear patient, will see your doctor in malpractice court.

So what does the practice of “defensive medicine” have to do with the practice of safe medicine? As patient safety advocates at CampaignZERO, here’s our take on the connection…

… When doctors feel defensive, they don’t have the luxury to feel introspective too. It’s a common-sense fact that the two emotions simply don’t coexist peacefully in a single caring soul.

… If doctors can’t be introspective, they can’t get to “sorry” when they make an error (as all humans do sometimes – despite very best efforts and intentions.)

… If doctors can’t get to sorry, they can’t learn from their mistakes. They can’t become better doctors and better human beings.

So, while money and cost should be a concern for all of us, we should care just as much about the caretaker — who will then do a better job of taking care of us.

Let’s break the vicious circle of defensive medicine. Let’s start building a caring circle of better, safer medicine.

Copyright@2010, Karen Aydt Curtiss, All rights reserved.