At least that’s the impression I’m left with.  Look at this:

Las Vegas surgeon Mark Kabins agreed this afternoon in U.S. District Court to plead guilty to misprision of a felony in the ongoing federal medical malpractice fraud case.

If the court agrees to accept the plea agreement, Kabins will serve six months in home confinement, receive five years’ probation and pay former patient Melodie Simon $3.5 million in restitution.

….

Kabins was charged in connection with what prosecutors say was a scheme to defraud clients involved in personal-injury lawsuits.

The government claims Kabins was a member of a corrupt network of doctors and lawyers who worked together to boost medical costs and inflate legal settlements. They then split the proceeds from lucrative settlements, according to prosecutors.

Source: Surgeon agrees to plea deal in medical malpractice fraud case – News – ReviewJournal.com

So what did this doctor do?  He recommended procedures that weren’t medically necessary.  What is defensive medicine?  It’s when a doctor recommends procedures that aren’t medically necessary.  This guy was prosecuted because in addition to getting money for performing the unnecessary procedures, he also took money from the inflated settlements.  Doctors who practice defensive medicine make money from the unnecessary procedures, so why aren’t they going to jail?

Apparently because no matter what laws you break, you’re OK if you did it because you were afraid of personal injury lawyers.  This doctor’s mistake was to do something for personal injury lawyers.

(And don’t think I’m sympathetic to him.  If I were the judge, I wouldn’t accept a plea deal that didn’t put his ass in jail for at least a year.)