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The Costs of Defensive Medicine

The Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute Center for Health Policy recently released findings from a national survey of 2,000 orthopaedic surgeons. The questionnaire asked surgeons about their diagnostic and treatment habits related to medical malpractice risks.

Published in the February issue of the American Journal of Orthopedics, the study suggests unnecessary costs associated with the practice of defensive medicine play a substantial role in the nation’s rising cost of health care.