Defensive medicine among high-risk specialist physicians in a volatile malpractice environment.

By D. Studdert, M. Mello, W. Sage, C. DesRoches, J. Peugh, K. Zapert, T. Brennan. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 2005

1,261 citations recorded by the source corpus.

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

Overconfidence as a cause of diagnostic error in medicine. (2008, background): “Indeed, 93% of physicians in formal surveys reported that they practice “defensive medicine,” including ordering unnecessary lab tests, imaging studies, and consultations.(141) The cost of defensive medicine is estimated to consume 5% to 9% of healthcare expenditures in the United States.”
How bad is incoherence (2016, background): “As a consequence, 93% of U.S. physicians in specialties at high risk of litigation admit to practicing defensive medicine (Studdert et al., 2005).”
When to consider boosting: some rules for policy-makers (2017, background): “Such practices are prevalent in high-liability specialties (e.g. gynaecology, radiology and orthopaedic surgery) in the USA (Studdert et al., 2005), but are also relatively common in less litigious health environments.”