A few patients have asked me recently about a well-publicized “study” showing that medical errors are now the third leading cause death in the US, behind heart disease and cancer.
We did look at the study and found it flawed in some major ways. The study extrapolated from a very small pool of data, and in addition, actually changed the way such medical errors are calculated, thereby showing an increase in deaths related to medical error when that is simply not the case.
For a more detailed look at the study, we would suggest reading the article at this link.
The mainstream media could do a bit more “digging” before running with stories that so directly effect readers.