US health care system partially responsible for poor health? (part 1)

 

Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and describes 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 

 

This total to 225,000 deaths per year from as a result of them begin 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. 

 

225,000 deaths per year constitute the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from heart disease and cancer.  There is a wide margin between these numbers of deaths and the next leading cause of death (cerebrovascular disease). 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

    * $77 billion in extra costs 

 

 (to be continued…)