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Howard M. Spiro, MD

JAMA. 1985;253(15):2258.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

MANY methods to limit the costs of medical care are being scrutinized. Corporations are asking their employees to pay a larger portion of their "health care" bills; diagnosis-related groups have been introduced to limit the number of diagnostic studies and other related costs for each hospital illness. These and other external measures aim at financially restricting, "capping" is the word, what the physician can do. Why do physicians order so many tests; why do their patients so enthusiastically agree to them—when they do not demand them? Is it greed on the physician's part or fear or ignorance on the patient's? I do not think so.

The new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques available in ever-increasing varieties to physicians since about 1970 make superb contributions to medical care and make the work of the clinician easier and much more precise. The problem lies not with the answers that the new technology provides, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Program for Humanities in Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.

Footnotes
Reprints not available.

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