> > Its the lawyers, too. > > It's in the article too: Essentially, it boils down to too many people not accepting their conditions, demanding additional treatment, or suing when they realize that someone "could have" done something sooner. The patients, the lawyers, and the doctors have setup a feedback loop. As a result, the doctors end up doing way more than than really need to in many cases, which drives up the demand/cost for those additional procedures and services. Where 15 years ago someone would come in, and the doctor would check them out and send them home with some pain meds, they are now ordering a full battery of tests and procedures, many of which are really not necessary. But, they feel it is justified because in the one case out of 1,000, those tests will catch something that a usual check wouldn't, so they've helped that one extra person and potentially avoided a theoretical lawsuit (and they get paid more). At what cost though? Those other 999 tests weren't needed and didn't do anything but cost everyone more money.
It goes back to the recent discussion about aircraft safety. How much more should we spend on something that might save an extra life over a given period of time? The value is somewhere between nothing and infinity, so "as much as it takes" really isn't a valid argument. At present, that value in medicine is starting to reach a point where it is no longer sustainable (maybe it already has?). -Justin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298161 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
