Medical Errors are the Third Leading Cause of Death in the US

I'm not making that up.

In fact, I was shocked when I read this in a book I've been reading, and, I honestly didn't believe it because I had never heard this before and I had to do some further research to convince myself that this could be possibly true.  And I was amazed at the research I found.

And here I thought Bob was just unlucky.....

Here's just a couple of links to a couple of articles citing that study: click here for an article by Hospital Safety Score and click here for a second article from Forbes.  There is much more information out there if you care to google it.

I am still pretty shocked.  And, of course, this study did not take in account folks like Bob, who manage to survive the ordeal only to die years after the error took place, but because the error took place.  It also doesn't take into account errors that happen on an outpatient basis.  Not to mention, deaths that were not reported as due to medical errors... So the numbers are probably, in reality, much much  higher.

And in case you are wondering: Heart disease is the #1 cause of death, followed by cancer as #2.

Interestly, also, is that most all the reports issued by "official" medical organizations do NOT include medical errors in their "top ten leading causes of death" lists.  hmmmmmm....

All I can say is: There is something definitely, terribly wrong with our health care system. Not only the mistakes/errors that occur but how they are covered up.

And I won't be making an appointment to see a doctor anytime soon!

I also must say, again, that this is the first time I had ever heard these statistics  -- and jeepers! I am still shocked! Am I the only one whose been in the dark here?