Sunday, October 18, 2009
200,000
Media, schools and government constantly hammer away at preventable causes of death. Tobacco is heading toward prohibition, fatty foods and sugary drinks are heading toward prohibition, kids must be strapped down in expensive gadgets when driving, and on and on.
All of these preventable deaths are dwarfed by the largest cause of all: Doctors and hospitals. Have you heard that 50,000 Americans die each year from medical errors and hospital-caused infections? You may have heard this once or twice in the last year. CBS's 60 Minutes ran one story on the subject.
But in fact the 50K number is itself a lie. The real number is closer to 200,000 per year. This is larger than any other single cause of death except "heart failure", which is really another way of saying "natural causes". (If you don't die of anything else, your heart will finally fail. That's the default.)
This number turns out to be constant among different studies with different methods, and constant across several years.
You've never heard it on TV or radio, and you've certainly never heard a public-service announcement. If we had honest institutions, the most common PSA would beg us to avoid doctors and hospitals unless we're definitely sick. Needless to say, this will never happen.
Oddly enough, the most complete source for this subject is part of the Mainstream Media: a project called Dead By Mistake sponsored by Hearst Publishing. Thus I assume readers of Hearst papers are getting this info directly, but the rest of the media has ferociously ignored it. ¶ 2:38 PM
All of these preventable deaths are dwarfed by the largest cause of all: Doctors and hospitals. Have you heard that 50,000 Americans die each year from medical errors and hospital-caused infections? You may have heard this once or twice in the last year. CBS's 60 Minutes ran one story on the subject.
But in fact the 50K number is itself a lie. The real number is closer to 200,000 per year. This is larger than any other single cause of death except "heart failure", which is really another way of saying "natural causes". (If you don't die of anything else, your heart will finally fail. That's the default.)
This number turns out to be constant among different studies with different methods, and constant across several years.
You've never heard it on TV or radio, and you've certainly never heard a public-service announcement. If we had honest institutions, the most common PSA would beg us to avoid doctors and hospitals unless we're definitely sick. Needless to say, this will never happen.
Oddly enough, the most complete source for this subject is part of the Mainstream Media: a project called Dead By Mistake sponsored by Hearst Publishing. Thus I assume readers of Hearst papers are getting this info directly, but the rest of the media has ferociously ignored it. ¶ 2:38 PM
