The doctor carefully documents that the patient has a diagnosis of “claudication” to ensure that everything will be covered by insurance. Claudication is a rare type of debilitating leg pain that is subjective and nearly impossible to disprove. And even though doctors know that less than 5% of patients with this rare diagnosis benefit from surgery, inserting that single word once in a patient’s chart guarantees the doctor will be paid in full and fend off any lawsuits.
