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A new study by Jackson Healthcare, a medical staffing and research agency, posits that government physicians practice defensive medicine substantially less than do private doctors.
Defensive medicine is the practice of treating patients with more tests or therapies than are absolutely necessary to hedge the medical professional against potential malpractice liabilities. It arises from risk aversion, and is tied in the beginning to increased medical costs and in the end to decreased malpractice costs.
The Chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, Richard L. Jackson, believes the reason government doctors practice defensive medicine less is because they are less "threatened by medical malpractice lawsuits than their counterparts in the private sector." He ties this to the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1948, which immunizes government doctors from personal financial liability. In other words, they do not have to pay for errors out of their own pocket. Private physicians, however, do. In fact, according to Jackson, private physicians are "the only physicians in the world who are personally financially liable for mistakes."
The survey tested only 347 doctors, but the results were striking. Just fewer than half (48%) of government physicians admitted practicing defensive medicine. Jackson Healthcare in 2010 reported a 92% rate of defensive medicine among private physicians. Even Gallup's lower estimate of 73% in 2010 dwarfs the government physician figure.
Of the approximately 21,000 doctors employed by the federal government, physicians in the Defense Department exhibited the smallest incidence of defensive medicine, while Veterans Affairs doctors were at the high end.
If you would like more information about how medical malpractice and accident cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational website http://www.oginski-law.com. If you have legal questions, I urge you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com to answer your questions. That's what I do every day. I welcome your call.
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