Abstract
Defensive medicine, one of the most important problems in the health sector in recent times, refers to the behaviors which are exhibited by the physicians for protecting themselves from malpractice cases and avoiding risky transactions. Defensive medicine practices not only adversely affect physicians, patients and their relatives and at the same time it also affect systems in a negatively. In this context, 23 faculty member physicians are interviewed to obtain information about the reasons why physicians are pushing defensive medicine in line with the research purpose. This qualitative study, is designed with phenomenology design by using criterion sampling method of purposive sampling method. The data obtained in the study are analysed with descriptive and content analysis methods. In the analysis of the data, a qualitative data analysis program NVivo 11 Pro is utlised. It is determined that physicians defend themselves for malpractice cases especially because of patient complaints, health politics, performance system and violence against physicians.