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I have anecdotal evidence to back up these claims: my mother is in internal medicine and my father is a surgeon. both have practiced defensive medicine and my father has complained about how common an occurrence it is on a regular basis.

Many tests, drugs and treatments have been applied in the name of defensive medicine.

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The followup question is, how much defensive medicine is necessary? If there's a 5% drop in that practice then do the costs from lawsuits go up to compensate? Are we at an equilibrium point, or are doctors doing defensive medicine because the myth of the power of a lawsuit is so strong?

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