Medical Error Is Third Leading Cause of Death in US

[Vince]

Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer, according to findings published today in BMJ.
As such, medical errors should be a top priority for research and resources, say authors Martin Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery, and research fellow Michael Daniel, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.


But accurate, transparent information about errors is not captured on death certificates, which are the documents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses for ranking causes of death and setting health priorities. Death certificates depend on International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes for cause of death, so causes such as human and system errors are not recorded on them.
And it's not just the US. According to the World Health Organization, 117 countries code their mortality statistics using the ICD system as the primary health status indicator.
The authors call for better reporting to help capture the scale of the problem and create strategies for reducing it. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...ertificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors

 

[Weasel]

This is why we have to take responsibility for our own health. I've learned that sometimes you have to tell a doctor how its going or not going to be. I question them and then question them some more. The majority of docs just get pissed off at me for questioning them or make up some BS answer that doesn't even make sense.

I've met 3 doctors that have been willing to tell me "I don't know." I respect those guys who can admit they do not have all the answers. Dr. Saya is one of these 3.