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Medical Mistakes [message #1335] |
Mon, 25 February 2008 09:20 ![Go to next message Go to next message](theme/default/images/down.png) |
DeWayne Messages: 82 Registered: August 2006 |
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After reading a moderator here threatening to give the boot to someone, I hesitate to even post this, but here goes anyway. Here is an article in possibly the most prestigious medical journal in existence today, JAMA. So please don't say this is my opinion
The reason I'm posting this is that in reading the Tomax7 site many are soooo concerned over the FA deaths. Oddly I didn't see anyone mention the MILLIONS who have died at the hands of doctors and hospitals.
Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Causing 225,000 Deaths Every Year
This article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is the best article I have ever seen written in the published literature documenting the tragedy of the traditional medical paradigm.
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This information is a followup of the Institute of Medicine report which hit the papers in December of last year, but the data was hard to reference as it was not in peer-reviewed journal. Now it is published in JAMA which is the most widely circulated medical periodical in the world.
The author is Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and she desribes how the US health care system may contribute to poor health.
ALL THESE ARE DEATHS PER YEAR:
* 12,000 -- unnecessary surgery
* 7,000 -- medication errors in hospitals
* 20,000 -- other errors in hospitals
* 80,000 -- infections in hospitals
* 106,000 -- non-error, negative effects of drugs
These total to 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes!!
What does the word iatrogenic mean? This term is defined as induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially of a complication of treatment.
Dr. Starfield offers several warnings in interpreting these numbers:
* First, most of the data are derived from studies in hospitalized patients.
* Second, these estimates are for deaths only and do not include negative effects that are associated with disability or discomfort.
* Third, the estimates of death due to error are lower than those in the IOM report.
If the higher estimates are used, the deaths due to iatrogenic causes would range from 230,000 to 284,000. In any case, 225,000 deaths per year constitutes the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from heart disease and cancer. Even if these figures are overestimated, there is a wide margin between these numbers of deaths and the next leading cause of death (cerebrovascular disease).
Another analysis concluded that between 4% and 18% of consecutive patients experience negative effects in outpatient settings,with:
* 116 million extra physician visits
* 77 million extra prescriptions
* 17 million emergency department visits
* 8 million hospitalizations
* 3 million long-term admissions
* 199,000 additional deaths
* $77 billion in extra costs
The high cost of the health care system is considered to be a deficit, but seems to be tolerated under the assumption that better health results from more expensive care.
However, evidence from a few studies indicates that as many as 20% to 30% of patients receive inappropriate care.
An estimated 44,000 to 98,000 among them die each year as a result of medical errors.
This might be tolerated if it resulted in better health, but does it? Of 13 countries in a recent comparison, the United States ranks an average of 12th (second from the bottom) for 16 available health indicators. More specifically, the ranking of the US on several indicators was:
* 13th (last) for low-birth-weight percentages
* 13th for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall
* 11th for postneonatal mortality
* 13th for years of potential life lost (excluding external causes)
* 11th for life expectancy at 1 year for females, 12th for males
* 10th for life expectancy at 15 years for females, 12th for males
* 10th for life expectancy at 40 years for females, 9th for males
* 7th for life expectancy at 65 years for females, 7th for males
* 3rd for life expectancy at 80 years for females, 3rd for males
* 10th for age-adjusted mortality
The poor performance of the US was recently confirmed by a World Health Organization study, which used different data and ranked the United States as 15th among 25 industrialized countries.
There is a perception that the American public "behaves badly" by smoking, drinking, and perpetrating violence." However the data does not support this assertion.
* The proportion of females who smoke ranges from 14% in Japan to 41% in Denmark; in the United States, it is 24% (fifth best). For males, the range is from 26% in Sweden to 61% in Japan; it is 28% in the United States (third best).
* The US ranks fifth best for alcoholic beverage consumption.
* The US has relatively low consumption of animal fats (fifth lowest in men aged 55-64 years in 20 industrialized countries) and the third lowest mean cholesterol concentrations among men aged 50 to 70 years among 13 industrialized countries.
These estimates of death due to error are lower than those in a recent Institutes of Medicine report, and if the higher estimates are used, the deaths due to iatrogenic causes would range from 230,000 to 284,000.
Even at the lower estimate of 225,000 deaths per year, this constitutes the third leading cause of death in the US, following heart disease and cancer.
Lack of technology is certainly not a contributing factor to the US's low ranking.
* Among 29 countries, the United States is second only to Japan in the availability of magnetic resonance imaging units and computed tomography scanners per million population. 17
* Japan, however, ranks highest on health, whereas the US ranks among the lowest.
* It is possible that the high use of technology in Japan is limited to diagnostic technology not matched by high rates of treatment, whereas in the US, high use of diagnostic technology may be linked to more treatment.
* Supporting this possibility are data showing that the number of employees per bed (full-time equivalents) in the United States is highest among the countries ranked, whereas they are very low in Japan, far lower than can be accounted for by the common practice of having family members rather than hospital staff provide the amenities of hospital care.
Journal American Medical Association July 26, 2000;284(4):483-5
http://www.mercola.com/2000/jul/30/doctors_death.htm
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Re: Medical Mistakes [message #1434 is a reply to message #1433] |
Sun, 02 March 2008 04:10 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](theme/default/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to next message](theme/default/images/down.png) |
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william Messages: 1458 Registered: January 2006 |
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Thanks for posting the info jacobs...
I had heard about the first account but not the others. It certainly highlights the benefits of trusting in the Suffering Servant portrayed in Isaiah 53, the One who bore away our sicknesses and diseases!
Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isa 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Speaking of Isaiah 53... I'm not sure whether or not I mentioned it here, but I'm reading a book by a 17th century preacher by the name of James Durham. The book is a compilation of his 72 sermons on this very passage. For those interested, it is called Christ Crucified: 72 Sermons on Isaiah 53. It's a bargain at $30.
Here is a link if anyone is interested:
http://www.heritagebooks.org/bookstore/catalog/product_info. php?products_id=7535
I want to believe!
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Re: Medical Mistakes [message #1444 is a reply to message #1442] |
Thu, 06 March 2008 21:58 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](theme/default/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to next message](theme/default/images/down.png) |
DeWayne Messages: 82 Registered: August 2006 |
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Within the last year one or more of the top FDA officials stated publicly that the conflict of interest between the FDA and the drug companies is outrageous. I will have to do a little research to find it again.
[Updated on: Thu, 06 March 2008 21:59]
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Re: Medical Mistakes [message #4392 is a reply to message #1335] |
Wed, 17 December 2008 13:51 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](theme/default/images/up.png) ![Go to next message Go to next message](theme/default/images/down.png) |
JWBTI Messages: 253 Registered: March 2007 Location: Ohio |
Senior Member |
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Just a note:
On Dec 13,08 one of my employees had an operation on his leg,
after the surgery, this is what his wife noted to us : (She is an RN at a different Hosp)
She Said !........
Yesterday I was NOT Very happy to view the 36 puncture sites in Phil's right wrist where the anesthesiologist had tried to place an arterial line during surgery!
Totally unacceptable! He never did get the line in & I think he should have stopped way before 36 sticks. He could have used the ultrasound machine to locate and view the artery but didn’t.
I am fearful this has compounded the problem with the carpal tunnel. His wrist & thumb are bruised,swollen and the wrist is hard as a rock. Now he is experiencing increased areas of numbness
and pain in his fingers since the surgery.
She said this was TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!
K. B. RN Fort Wayne, In
[Updated on: Wed, 17 December 2008 14:20] Ron
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Re: Medical Mistakes [message #4404 is a reply to message #4402] |
Thu, 18 December 2008 12:31 ![Go to previous message Go to previous message](theme/default/images/up.png) |
JWBTI Messages: 253 Registered: March 2007 Location: Ohio |
Senior Member |
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Gary,
If I can get by the dog, I’ll be ok….Pray for me, I’ll need it!
For 3 1/2 years My wife was operations manager and head nurse at a very
Prestigious nursing home, But that did NOT guarantee your safety and or protection
From the errors of Medical Science and or the stupidity of the doctors.There were
Times when she had to fight the doctors, refusing to follow their instructions, cause
She knew it would kill the patients…..this happened way too often !
For reasons unknown, she was terminated from that position and her license went up
For review at state level…..
Tho she has retained them , she is no longer in the medical field and God is working
Mightily in her life to deliver her from all that medical science has corrupted.
[Updated on: Thu, 18 December 2008 14:29] Ron
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