The State of Defensive Medicine, Part VII: The Medical Liability Insurance Landscape

In the final segment of our interview with Dr. Richard Anderson, Chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company, we ask him if and how the medical liability landscape has changed since he published the article Billions for Defense: The Pervasive Nature of Defensive Medicine in 1999. Dr. Anderson’s response is that the practice of defensive medicine has not changed and, indeed, most physicians in the United States and in many developed countries readily admit to practicing defensive medicine.

With the practice of defensive medicine being so pervasive both in the United States and overseas, Dr. Anderson goes on to state his belief that a cultural change will be necessary to transform the situation, as only a cultural change will make patients who experience an adverse medical outcome less likely to sue. Without such a profound shift, it will be difficult to solve the problem of defensive medicine. Watch the final part of our video series below. To see the entire interview from the beginning, click here.