This article was published by JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) which is the most widely circulated medical periodical in the world, and this article is considered one of the best in published literature concerning the tragedy of the modern medical paradigm.

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.

    - Unnecessary Surgeries  12,000
     
    - Medication Errors in Hospitols  7,000
    
    - Other Errors in Hospitals  20,000
   
    - Infections in Hospitals 80,000
 
     - non-error, Negative Effects of Drugs 106,000

, Estimated Totaling 250,000  Deaths per year from iatrogenic causes!

Iatrogenic is a term 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 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 deaths due to error are lower than those in the IOM (Institute of Medicine) 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). Simply put, the estimated margin is vast in difference making Doctors the THIRD leading cause of Death in the US hands down.

Another analysis concluded that between 4% and 18% of consecutive patients experience negative effects in outpatient settings with the following statistics. Simply put, these patients who receive inappropriate care are subject to the following statistics.

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. A study done by Kohn L, ed, Corrigan J, ed, Donaldson M, ed. To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 1999.

Bottom line is people go to doctors to get better, instead they get worse! Instead of being cured they are "treated". 50 years and billions of dollars in research and still no cures. Of course universities and doctors do not get paid once they find a cure, they get paid to research. Billions of dollars have been spent on researching drugs to treat anything from the common cold, to heart disease and cancer. Claims are often made "success is just around the corner". Well has it been?

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.

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. 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.