CT scans carry with them a high dose of radiation. Last December it was announced that each year CT scans cause 29,000 future cases of cancer. A new study detailing the request for CT scans¹ by primary care physicians shows that 26% of their requests are inappropriate based on existing evidence-based radiology standards.

Are physicians doing this because they don’t know better, because they are trying to cover their legal rear ends, or because they are being pressured to rack up use of expensive machines to help pay for them?

Whatever their reason may be, this data shows that they are causing 7,540 needless cases of cancer every year – oftentimes sending children on a future path of high cancer risk and potential death. And when a patient dies from such cancer do we call it a medical error or involuntary manslaughter?