DEATH BY MEDICINE VS DEATH BY GUNS

Death by Medicine v. Death by Guns

(Be The Media) – On July 2006, the late Dr. Barbara Starfield, one of the most respected and honored public-health experts, published an explosive landmark study that uncovered the horrors of modern healthcare in America. Dr. Barbara Starfield’s credentials within the highest medical circles are impeccable.

As deplorable and disgraceful as they are, Dr. Starfield’s findings never saw any media coverage, no major newspaper or television network conducted a “Medicalgate” investigation; neither the DOJ nor federal health agencies sought remedial action.

Dr. Starfield’s study “Is US health really the best in the world?” published in the Journal of the American Medical Association came to the following conclusions:

The most outrageous revelation of her report is that iatrogenic harm (a state of ill health or adverse effect induced in a patient by a physician’s activity, manner, or therapy (mostly prescription drugs) is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer.

The combined deaths from medical errors and adverse effects induced in a patient include:

• 12,000 deaths/year from unnecessary surgery
• 7,000 deaths/year from medication errors in hospitals
• 20,000 deaths/year from other errors in hospitals
• 80,000 deaths/year from nosocomial infections in hospitals
• 106,000 deathsa year from non-error, adverse effects of medications

This amounts to a total of 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes. However, Starfield notes three important caveats in her study:

• Most of the data are derived from studies in hospitalized patients
• The estimates are for deaths only and do not include adverse effects associated with disability or discomfort
• The estimates of death due to error are lower than those in the Institute of Medicine Report (a previous report by the Institute of Medicine on the number of iatrogenic deaths in the U.S.)

Starfield also stated that between 4% and 18% of consecutive patients experience adverse effects in outpatient settings, with 116 million extra physician visits, 77 million emergency department visits, 8 million hospitalizations, 3 million long-term admissins, 199,000 additional deaths, and $77 billion in extra costs.

This brings the number of deaths to a staggering 424,000 deaths per year!

Read Dr. Starfield’s report in its entirety HERE

Gun Statistics

Number of Privately Owned Firearms

The estimated total number of guns held by civilians in the United States is 270,000,000

Rate of Civilian Firearm Possession per 100 Population

The rate of private gun ownership in the United States is 88.8 firearms per 100 people

Total annual deaths in the US resulting from firearms

 2011: 32,163

Gun Homicides

2011: 11,101

Gun Suicides

2011: 19,766

Unintentional Gun Deaths                                              

2011: 851

Gun Deaths from Undetermined Causes

2011: 222

Gun Deaths (Other) from Undetermined Causes

2010: 192

Source: GunPolicy.Org

Links of interest:

Death by Allopathy

Interview with Dr. Starfield

Legal Drugs vs. Illegal Drugs: Are we fighting the right war?