Defensive Medicine: Do I Need This Test?

This very morning, by coincidence, my doctor sent me to have a c/t scan, (cat scan) to help diagnose a minor pain which I keep complaining about but which he can’t figure out. Cat scans, which typically cost several thousand dollars, are often cited as the key example of what’s called defensive medicine: the practice of ordering too many tests or medical procedures “just to be sure” of a diagnosis. The costs of defensive medicine are likely in the ten of billions of dollars, but what are we are patients supposed to do? Should I have questioned such an expensive test? To save (CBS’s) money, should I have asked for an x-ray instead?

Tonight’s story, which is on the nationwide practice of defensive medicine, focuses on the case of a Richmond college student who went to the emergency room with stomach pain and (guess what?) was immediately given two cat scans. [READ THE REST]

Kevin MD was interviewed for this story, and wonders how the footage was used. I won’t be able to catch the program tonight. But I will try to round up the blog reaction later this week.

Feel free to leave your own reaction in the comments or point to anything you’ve found in the web.

PS: Watch here.