Defensive Medicine in the Emergency Department: A Cross-sectional Study from the Perspective of Emergency Medical Specialists

Aim: An increase in defensive medicine has recently been observed due to malpractice suits brought against physicians. This results in increased medical costs, requests for unnecessary tests, or delays in the treatment of high-risk patients. Materials and Methods: Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire prepared by the authors following a review of the literature and sent to participants via docs.google.com. Numerical data were expressed as mean plus standard deviation, and categorical data as number and percentage. The Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were employed for data analysis. Results: Men represented 67.9% (n=218) of the participants, and 70.7% (n=227) of our subjects were aged 24-35. In addition, 92.2% of participants considered that both consultant physicians in emergency departments (ED) and emergency physicians tended to be defensive in their approach to patients. Our findings showed that 88.1% (n=283) of participants requested more tests and consultations from patients arriving at the ED in order to avoid malpractice suits. Finally, 39.6% (n=127) of participants considered that emergency medicine specialists sought to avoid caring for complicated patients involving a greater workload in terms of tests, consultation, ED stay, and treatment. Conclusion: Defensive medicine is a growing global phenomenon. The most undesirable and dangerous aspect of defensive medicine is that it also impacts on ED patients. The practice of ascribing every adverse patient outcome to the physician must be abandoned, and steps must be taken toward finding a solution.