ArticleHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2021
Defensive Medicine in the Management of Cesarean Delivery: A Survey among Italian Physicians.
Article in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal perspective on requesting elective caesarean birth.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- Adolescent Pregnancy in Southeastern Romania: A Ten-Year Retrospective Cohort from a Regional Referral Center.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Mode of Delivery in Greece: A Study of Obstetricians' Personal Preferences Regarding Delivery of Their Offspring.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The effects of loving-kindness meditation on doctors' communication anxiety, trust, calling and defensive medicine practice.BioPsychoSocial medicine · 2024Article
- Predictors of Defensive Practices among Italian Psychiatrists: Additional Findings from a National Survey.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Exploring defensive medicine: examples, underlying and contextual factors, and potential strategies - a qualitative study.BMC medical ethics · 2023Article
- Analysis of Medico-Legal Complaint Data: A Retrospective Study of Three Large Italian University Hospitals.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Behavioural factors associated with fear of litigation as a driver for the increased use of caesarean sections: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Obstetric Violence from a Midwife Perspective.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Clinicians' views regarding caesarean section rates in Switzerland: A cross-sectional web-based survey.European journal of obstetrics & gynecology and reproductive biology: X · 2023Article
- Difficulties in Adaptation of the Mother and Newborn via Cesarean Section versus Natural Birth-A Narrative Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Prediction of Emergency Cesarean Section Using Detectable Maternal and Fetal Characteristics Among Saudi Women.International journal of women's health · 2023Article
- When COVID-19 Is Not All: Femicide Conducted by a Murderer with a Narcissistic Personality "Masked" by a Brief Psychotic Disorder, with a Mini-Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Proactive Risk Assessment Through Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) for Haemodialysis Facilities: A Pilot Project.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesThis study aims to contribute to the definition of the defensive medicine phenomenon between obstetricians and gynecologists, as well as to possible effects on the frequency of deliveries performed by cesarean sections (CS). MATERIALS AND
methodsa digital questionnaire was administered through a mail-list including 600 gynecological specialists (of these 168 doctors completed the test), both in public and private settings. It was made of twenty multiple choice questions, concerning their awareness about the practice of defensive medicine and the planning and execution of CS. All doctors involved received clear and complete information about the purpose of this study and about the organizations that received their answers. Analyses of variance and regression were performed to describe differences between groups and to estimate the relationships between variables. The value of
resultsour analysis revealed that most respondents are confident with the defensive medicine definition and characteristics. This survey confirmed that gynecologists fear legal actions promoted by their patients and therefore modulate their choices by implementing professional behaviors of so-called "defensive medicine". This relates to a greater number of medical liability judgements, which more often concern omission or delayed execution of cesarean section, rather than unskillful surgical procedures.
conclusionsthere are few data to support a relation between the high rate of CS and defensive medicine. Numerous scientific studies associated this CS rate with the phenomenon of defensive medicine. This practice is constantly growing in all medical areas, especially in high-risk specialties such as obstetrics and gynecology. Our study highlights physicians' awareness of adopting defensive medicine behaviors in their clinical practice, affecting the choice of the type of delivery to be performed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.