Third leading cause of death in the U.S.

[_CY_]

Medical errors are right behind heart disease and cancer as a leading cause of death.

Medical Error Third Leading Cause of Death in US : DNews

here's the actual PDF from BMJ if anyone cares to read it .. numbers are interpolated from 1999 data and CDC data which doesn't have a category for death resulting from medical errors. I'm not saying mistakes doesn't happen, but numbers used are suspect at best ..

Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139.full.pdf

========

FastStats

Leading Causes of Death CDC
Number of deaths for leading causes of death

• Heart disease: 614,348
  • Cancer: 591,699
  • Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101
  • Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053
  • Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103
  • Alzheimer's disease: 93,541
  • Diabetes: 76,488
  • Influenza and pneumonia: 55,227
  • Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,146
  • Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773

Source: Health United States, 2015 Table 19 [PDF- 9.8 MB] (Data are for 2014)

 

[YukonGlocker]

here's the actual PDF from BMJ if anyone cares to read it .. numbers are interpolated from 1999 data and CDC data which doesn't have a category for death resulting from medical errors. I'm not saying mistakes doesn't happen, but numbers used are suspect at best ..

Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US
http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139.full.pdf

========

FastStats

Leading Causes of Death CDC
Number of deaths for leading causes of death

• Heart disease: 614,348
  • Cancer: 591,699
  • Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101
  • Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053
  • Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103
  • Alzheimer's disease: 93,541
  • Diabetes: 76,488
  • Influenza and pneumonia: 55,227
  • Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,146
  • Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773

Source: Health United States, 2015 Table 19 [PDF- 9.8 MB] (Data are for 2014)

I read it. Their estimates are partly based on several large scale studies that did measure actual medical error leading to death. And, as they noted, there are reasons to believe their current estimate is low (e.g., doesn't count for error leading to death outside the facility). However, there could be factors that would decrease the number also (e.g., adoption of technology that reduce mistakes; policy changes that reduce mistakes; etc.)--and of course the authors don't list these, or brainstorm in this direction. Overall, it's still a very difficult number to measure; but their estimates, even if ball-park accurate, are alarming.

 

[_CY_]

I read it. Their estimates are partly based on several large scale studies that did measure actual medical error leading to death. And, as they noted, there are reasons to believe their current estimate is low (e.g., doesn't count for error leading to death outside the facility). However, there could be factors that would decrease the number also (e.g., adoption of technology that reduce mistakes; policy changes that reduce mistakes; etc.)--and of course the authors don't list these, or brainstorm in this direction. Overall, it's still a very difficult number to measure; but their estimates, even if ball-park accurate, are alarming.

here's a blurp from the BMJ study which freely admits their numbers based on interpolation have limited accuracy.
again I'm not saying medical errors are not a problem as I've been negatively effected my self. just that the methods/numbers used in this BMJ study are suspect at best.

"We calculated a mean rate of
death from medical error of 251 454 a year using the studies
reported since the 1999 IOM report and extrapolating to the
total number of US hospital admissions in 2013. We believe
this understates the true incidence of death due to medical error
because the studies cited rely on errors extractable in
documented health records and include only inpatient deaths.
Although the assumptions made in extrapolating study data to
the broader US population may limit the accuracy of our figure,
the absence of national data highlights the need for systematic
measurement of the problem. Comparing our estimate to CDC
rankings suggests that medical error is the third most common
cause of death in the US (fig 1⇓)."

 

[YukonGlocker]

here's a blurp from the BMJ study which freely admits their numbers based on interpolation have limited accuracy.
again I'm not saying medical errors are not a problem as I've been negatively effected my self. just that the methods/numbers used in this BMJ study are suspect at best.

"We calculated a mean rate of
death from medical error of 251 454 a year using the studies
reported since the 1999 IOM report and extrapolating to the
total number of US hospital admissions in 2013. We believe
this understates the true incidence of death due to medical error
because the studies cited rely on errors extractable in
documented health records and include only inpatient deaths.
Although the assumptions made in extrapolating study data to
the broader US population may limit the accuracy of our figure,
the absence of national data highlights the need for systematic
measurement of the problem. Comparing our estimate to CDC
rankings suggests that medical error is the third most common
cause of death in the US (fig 1⇓)."

No, their estimation methods are quite common; and it's a powerful and useful method, especially because they are averaging across those "studies since 1999". Those prior studies were actual counts of errors leading to deaths, and are a good estimator of the same thing happening in other facilities. Some will be more, and some less, but the average across studies is a great estimator in this case given that they are using studies with 100,000+ people in them.

 

[YukonGlocker]

I am wondering, though, if there's been any substantial change in these medical systems (i.e., the integration of technology I mentioned earlier) in the last few years that would make a significant difference.

 

[Sanford]

Medical Error Third Leading Cause of Death in US : DNews

That's no defense of gross misconduct, in any way.

Those people all need to be trained and licensed. That'll put a stop to it.