Survey: 96% of surgeons order tests to avoid liability

A survey of more than 1,200 surgeons nationwide found that 96 percent had ordered tests, referrals or hospital admissions to avoid malpractice liability (Source: “Doctors go on the defensive with tests,” Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 20, 2012).

On average, 24 percent of the tests and referrals they ordered were medically unnecessary, according to the study (pdf, 5 pages), which was published in The American Journal of Orthopedics. A separate 2010 study found that the estimated the annual cost of unnecessary tests ordered by a wide range of physicians to be $60 billion.

“This is a problem,” said Dr. Alex Jahangir, an orthopedic surgeon at Vanderbilt’s medical center and one of the researchers in the study. “We have to have an honest conversation about it. Our biggest hope will be that this will shine a light on the need for cost containment.”