Doctors Find Gold in Own X-Ray Machines

The suspicion that profits influence the way doctors treat patients got some support today from a study showing that those who make money on X-rays take four times as many of them, researchers say.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was based on a review of insurance records. It compared doctors who owned their own office X-ray and ultrasound machines with those who send their patients to other specialists for X-rays. Doctors make a profit on each image they take on their own equipment but make nothing when they send patients to other experts.