Death from treatment

Doctors' mistakes are the third most common cause of death in the United States
Officially, there is no such reason at all

Anatoly Alizar, Giktimes based on Johns Hopkins Medicine: Study Suggests Medical Errors Now Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.

What do people die from? It would seem a simple question. The World Health Organization (WHO) distributes official statistics that clearly indicate the main causes of mortality in the world. These are diseases of the cardiovascular system and cancer. Then there are other illnesses and accidents. But a recent study by experts from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine casts doubt on this statistic. The fact is that WHO and other official organizations do not recognize and do not take into account one of the most common causes of death in the world – medical errors. Death from the treatment itself.

In the case of a medical error, the cause of death is always indicated by the disease in connection with which the patient went to the doctor, even if it was not fatal in itself and would not have led to death.

According to experts, if medical errors are recognized, they will take the third place (!) among the main causes of death after diseases of the cardiovascular system and cancer. In the US alone, they claim the lives of 250,000 patients annually (251,414 deaths in 2013).

Graph from an article in BMJ – VM

In the USA and other countries, doctors' mistakes are not codified in any way in the death certificate, there is simply no such code in the ICD classifier. And if there is no code, then there is no problem.

However, researchers Martin Makary and Michael Daniel have analyzed government statistics since 1999 and extrapolated it to the total number of hospitalizations in 2013. It turned out that medical errors in reality caused 9.5% of all deaths.

The authors believe that deaths due to errors cannot be hidden from statistics. On the contrary, this topic should be investigated, discussed, doctors should share their experience and learn from the mistakes of others. This is the only way to reduce mortality.

The researchers also note that the human factor is inevitable, and these deaths are not always the fault of doctors. Nevertheless, this factor must be taken into account. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a more effective system for monitoring medical errors, as well as include the appropriate line in the classifier and indicate this cause in the death certificate.

"Mistakes play a complex role," the researchers say. "Although many of them are illogical, but a mistake can end the life of someone with a long life expectancy or accelerate imminent death."

The scientific work Medical error–the third leading cause of death in the US was published on May 3, 2016 in the British Medical Journal.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  12.05.2016