A few years ago, back when I was still an employee at a large corporate practice, a middle aged woman who I knew well came to see me complaining of abdominal pain. I took a history from her, examined her carefully, and reviewed her recent labs. After doing so, I was reassured that she had nothing serious going on and needed no further workup for the moment.
So I did exactly the sort of “irrational” thing that makes no sense to an insurance company but all the sense in the world to a doctor: I ordered an abdominal ultrasound.
