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"A whopping 91 percent of doctors say they ordered more tests and procedures than patients need because they&amp;#039;re concerned about malpractice suits, according to a survey recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Personally, I&amp;#039;m not that surprised. It&amp;#039;s human nature to want to blame someone if you get really sick or if a family member dies, and that person is often the doctor. In the U.S. that desire to blame frequently turns into a lawsuit, so doctors have gotten used to protecting themselves by ordering every test imaginable.  As a patient, I see that this issue is complicated. I don&amp;#039;t want to be poked and prodded (and charged) more than necessary\u2014but I don&amp;#039;t want my doctors to under-test and miss something that could majorly affect my health, either. My hope is that my own doctors have found a good-enough middle ground and that the &amp;quot;extra&amp;quot; tests they&amp;#039;re ordering haven&amp;#039;t exposed me to too much radiation or taken a big toll on my wallet\u2026 but that truth is I&amp;#039;ll probably never know. (Just because a test comes back negative doesn&amp;#039;t mean you shouldn&amp;#039;t have had it.) What do you think? Do you think your doctor orders too many tests that you really don&amp;#039;t need?  \u2014Barbara Brody, Health Editor "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a45095/is-that-medical-test-necessary-2541/?src=shelter_footer>