Reflecting on the inappropriateness (medical overuse) and on defensive medicine, the Authors wonder whether the new Italian reform of professional guilt, desired at all institutional levels, will actually contain the high economic costs produced by these large and widespread phenomena. After having characterized the medical overuse and the defensive medicine indicating the common traits and main differences, the reflection is conducted by exploring the many scientific evidence that does not document any causal link between the decriminalization of professional conduct and the containment of the costs produced by the prescriptive inappropriateness. They conclude by stating that, for their containment, a third reform of professional liability will not be helpful. Instead, it must focus on other issues, mainly addressing the excessive reliance on judicial recourse. It should provide for mandatory out-of-court conciliatory mechanisms and clarifying the protective umbrella of the doctor's non-criminality.
Keywords: defensive medicine; diagnostic inappropriateness; malpractice; medical overuse.
Copyright by Società Italiana di Nefrologia SIN, Rome,Italy.