Defensive medicine in Europe: a ‘full circle’?

Revisiting the patient–physician relationship under the lens of value co-creation and defensive medicine

“…For this reason, it is possible to find several empirical studies based on surveys and focus groups about the rate of its diffusion. Just to cite some of them, the percentages of doctors who claimed the practice of defensive behaviours are around 73% in the USA, 60% in Italy, 54-62% in Israel, 98% in Japan, 72% in Turkey and, less frequently, in the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Romania, Canada, South Africa, France, Switzerland, Belgium and Scandinavian countries (Assing Hvidt et al, 2021;Baungaard et al, 2020;Calikoglu and Aras, 2020;Chen, 2007;Garattini and Padula, 2020).…”

The Italian NHS at regional level: same in theory, different in practice

“…Nevertheless, once ruled out competing and pricing for managing public healthcare services, planning and budgeting are the only solution, possibly in a climate of collaboration and integration among health professionals. Ideally, there is no doubt that an organizational culture rooted in collaborative teamwork fits healthcare services much better than a competitive one, eventually deterring modern ‘side effects’ like defensive medicine [ 12 ]. In practice, the big challenge of the future is to develop the best incentives for limiting political influence and administrative bureaucracy, the real ‘devils in disguise’ of the public sector, in order to efficiently manage the supply of healthcare services in Beveridge-type NHSs [ 11 ].…”

Uncovering the Veils of Maya on defensive medicine, litigation risk and second victims in surgery: care for the carers to protect the patients

“…Defensive medicine may be defined as "any medical act (test or treatments) performed or omitted to avoid medical lawsuit." It may be triggered by the fear of losing reputations in the workplace and in the community as a consequence of medical errors and their public dissemination through the mass media [6].…”