Defensive medicine

Defensive medicine, also called defensive medical decision making, refers to the practice of recommending a diagnostic test or medical treatment that is not necessarily the best option for the patient, but mainly serves to protect the physician against the patient as potential plaintiff. Defensive medicine is a reaction to the rising costs of malpractice insurance premiums and patients’ biases on suing for missed or delayed diagnosis or treatment but not for being overdiagnosed.

Physicians in the United States are at highest risk of being sued, and overtreatment is common. The number of lawsuits against physicians in the USA has had a substantial impact on the behavior of physicians and medical practice. Physicians order tests and avoid treating high-risk patients (when they have a choice) to reduce their exposure to lawsuits, or are forced to discontinue practicing because of overly high insurance premiums.^[1] This behavior has become known as defensive medicine, "a deviation from sound medical practice that is indicated primarily by a threat of liability".

In India, a rise of physical attacks on practitioners and lack of support from public and government systems are the prime reasons for defensive medicine.