http://www.yourmedicaldetective.com/public/335.cfm
The high cost of the health care system is considered to be a deficit, but it seems to be tolerated under the assumption that better health results from more expensive care.
However, evidence from a few studies indicates that as many as 20% to 30% of patients receive inappropriate care.
An estimated 44,000 to 98,000 among these patients die each year as a result of medical errors.
This might be tolerable if it resulted in better health, but does it?
Out of 13 countries in a recent comparison, the United States ranks an average of 12th (second from the bottom) for 16 available health indicators.
More specifically, the ranking of the U.S. on several indicators was:
13th (last) for low-birth-weight percentages
13th for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall
11th for post-neonatal mortality
13th for years of potential life lost (excluding external causes)
11th for life expectancy, at 1 year for females, 12th for males
10th for life expectancy, at 15 years for females, 12th for males
10th for life expectancy, at 40 years for females, 9th for males
7th for life expectancy, at 65 years for females, 7th for males
3rd for life expectancy, at 80 years for females, 3rd for males
The poor performance of the U.S. was recently confirmed by a World Health Organization study which used different data and ranked the United States as 15th among 25 industrialized countries.
It has been known that drugs are the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.
This makes it clear that the more frightening number is that doctors are the third leading cause of death in this country, killing nearly a quarter million people a year.
