CDC Fast Stats: More than 30 Million Personal Injury Visits to ER Annually

If you are like so many other Americans who never stop to wonder about odd bits of trivia such as just how many people are injured each year, it may sound unlikely that more than 30 million visits to the ER are the result of injuries. It’s no wonder that personal injury lawyers are kept so busy filing claims against drivers in automobile accidents or employers accused of being negligent in matters of safety. The fact is, according to the most recent statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least 30 million visits to ER around the nation are the direct result of injuries.

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It Shouldn’t Sound Odd – But It Does

That figure shouldn’t sound so terribly unusual if we used emergency rooms as they are supposed to be used, for emergencies among which are injuries, but ER has often taken the place of a visit to a family physician. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to fix the fact that Americans couldn’t afford the rising costs of healthcare, but it didn’t. Americans are still going to emergency rooms for such things as common colds, stomach viruses and other non-critical complaints which should be treated in a doctor’s office. Fast Stats from the National Center for Health Statistics, a branch of the CDC, reveal that of those 30 million visits there are:

• Almost 136,000 deaths as a result of unintentional injuries (accidents)
• Fatalities equaling 42.6 per 100,000 of population
• The fourth leading cause of death in the United States

So, if it sounds odd that so many people visit the ER due to being injured in some kind of accident, you may need to re-think the ultimate purpose of an emergency room.

Types of Injuries Seen in ERs

Although the latest statistics are a few years old now, the ratio per capita probably remains the same. In that year alone, mortality rates classified by type of injuries are of central importance. Let’s take a brief look at some of those figures. Deaths by type of injury were listed as:

• Accidental falls – 31,959
• Motor vehicle accidents – 33,736
• Accidental poisoning – 42,032

A few words need to be said about those statistics. The first thing to point out is that ‘accidental poisoning’ could relate to drug overdose or alcohol poisoning and not unintentionally swallowing a glass of bleach, for example. The facts would need to be broken down further to get the full import of each type of personal injury resulting in death, but the facts are still staggering enough as it is.

Is there any wonder why so many people file claims for personal injury? After all, look at the reasons for those trips to the hospital and just how many of those injuries were the result of second or third parties. You may not want to sue your employer, but if your injuries threaten your ability to provide for yourself or your family, you probably don’t have a choice. When all is said and done, however, we should look at why emergency rooms are there and avoid them if a visit to a general practitioner would suffice. Don’t let’s burden an already overburdened healthcare system.