Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2018; 6(11): 406-409
Published online Oct 6, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i11.406
Defensive medicine: It is time to finally slow down an epidemic
Sandro Vento, Francesca Cainelli, Alfredo Vallone
Sandro Vento, Francesca Cainelli, Department of Medicine, Nazarbayev University, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
Sandro Vento, University Medical Center, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan
Alfredo Vallone, Infectious Diseases Unit, G. Jazzolino Hospital, Vibo Valentia 89900, Italy
Author contributions: Vento S, Cainelli F and Vallone A conceived the study and drafted the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article, which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Sandro Vento, MD, Full Professor, Department of Medicine, Nazarbayev University, 5/1 Kerey and Zhanibek Khans Street, Astana 010000, Kazakhstan. sandro.vento@nu.edu.kz
Telephone: +7-7172-694654
Received: June 4, 2018
Peer-review started: June 5, 2018
First decision: June 14, 2018
Revised: July 5, 2018
Accepted: July 15, 2018
Article in press: July 16, 2018
Published online: October 6, 2018
Processing time: 116 Days and 5.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The widespread practice of defensive medicine has negative consequences for patients, doctors, and healthcare costs. The growth of defensive medicine must be seen in the context of the changes in the conception of medicine, which have occurred in the last few decades and have undermined the patient–physician trust. To reduce the practice of defensive medicine, decriminalization of medical errors, increased time directly spent with patients, reaffirmation of the importance of clinical reasoning, and institutional support to doctors who have experienced adverse patient events are essential.