April 10, 2005

[M]any physicians are skeptical that dotting every i and crossing every t improves health outcomes. As Fred Teichman, an ob/gyn in Lewisburg, PA, puts it, "It's sad to step back and realize how much money is being wasted on all this. Even the patients are getting tired of so much care, but we all know what will happen if anything goes wrong."

Medical Economics has a must-read article on how malpractice liability fears have distorted medicine for the worse. (Gail Garfinkel Weiss, "Malpractice: How fear changes practice", Apr. 8). And, as a commenter on Kevin Pho's site points out, doctors' refusal to give medical advice over the phone for fear of second-guessing has led to emergency rooms that are overcrowded because of overutilization for primary care purposes, with potentially fatal consequences ($). Posted by Ted Frank at 03:58 AM | TrackBack (1)