Letters: Tests, tests and more tests. Why?
Re “Doctors list overused medical procedures,” Feb. 21
As a physician with almost 40 years experience, I completely concur with the findings.
However, there are other issues.
First is the expectation of patients. With instant access to the Internet, they come to see the doctor already knowing “what
they need.” They want the CT, the X-ray and the antibiotic.
No matter how you try to explain the correct medical reasoning, they want what they want.
This leads to problem No. 2: That patient complains to the insurance company, the hospital
administration and the service contract holder about your poor customer service.
And finally there are the lawyers. No matter how right you are in not ordering a given procedure, if there is any kind of undesired outcome, you can count on being sued for negligence.
True, as long as you have followed good medical guidelines, you will usually succeed in your defense. But you still had to go through the agony of defending yourself.
Only when there is some kind of change in all of the above areas will there be any chance of eliminating unnecessary and overused procedures.
Michael J. LaFemina
Thousand Oaks
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