Good news story and features Dr. Kevin, Medical Blogger talks about when to use less costly tests and what questions to ask. Obviously when it comes to saving a life, there's no debate, but it's easier to justify doing a test rather than not doing one if the physician feels the need...the article also has some good tips on what questions to ask as well...good story. His blog does a good job in telling us how it is....we like it here and often use links to some of his stories...BD
(CBS) It started as a simple stomach ache, but Alexandra Varipapa, a sophomore at the University of
Richmond, decided to go to the emergency room. There, doctors ordered a full CT scan, a radiation imaging test, which found a harmless ovarian cyst. She never questioned the CT scan, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. But her father did - when he got the $8,500 bill, $6,500 of which was that CT scan. I was pretty flabbergasted, said Robert Varipapa, himself a physician.
“Defensive medicine is bad medicine,” Pho said.
Another admits that in his practice, “every patient with a headache gets a (CT) scan.”
And the costs of defensive medicine today are increasingly paid by patients, even those with insurance - because of rising deductibles and co-payments.
Hat Tip: Kevin, MD
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