[patmcc]

'Extra tests' can be dangerous in a few ways: x-ray and CT scans give you a significant dose of radiation, MRIs and mammograms have high false positive rates (that can lead to painful and potentially damaging biopsies), etc. Plus there are a subset of people who are incredible hypochondriacs - if they could schedule tests directly they would have MRIs daily, convinced that the last one had missed the problem. Some people need gatekeeping.

What we need is doctors and a medical system motivated by the right things (health and wellness of the patient) rather than purely by profit and fear of lawsuits.