Re: Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
You report a Johns Hopkins study that said over 250,000 deaths resulted
yearly from medical errors.
This figure is alarming, but the medical profession deserves a statistical
context: the number of mistake-opportunites which occur each year. Taking
into account all the prescriptions written, all the hospital orders made
and implemented, this number must be in the billions, which means that only
a tiny percentage of such prescriptions and orders are wrong. .001
Percent?
You should calculate this statistical basis and present it concurrently to
put these "scare" data in perspective.
Rapid Response:
Re: Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
You report a Johns Hopkins study that said over 250,000 deaths resulted
yearly from medical errors.
This figure is alarming, but the medical profession deserves a statistical
context: the number of mistake-opportunites which occur each year. Taking
into account all the prescriptions written, all the hospital orders made
and implemented, this number must be in the billions, which means that only
a tiny percentage of such prescriptions and orders are wrong. .001
Percent?
You should calculate this statistical basis and present it concurrently to
put these "scare" data in perspective.
Am I wrong?
Sincerely,
Jonathan Wells, Newbury, MA
Competing interests: No competing interests