Medical error is the third largest cause of death in the United States, according to an analysis published Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ.
In 2013, at least 250,000 people died not from the illnesses or injuries that prompted them to seek hospital care but from preventable mistakes, according to the study.
That number exceeds deaths from strokes and Alzheimer’s combined, and is topped only by heart disease and cancer, which each claim about 600,000 lives per year.
The death toll from medical mishaps would be even higher if nursing homes and out-patient care were included, the researchers found.
“People don’t just die from bacteria and heart plaque, they die from communication breakdowns, fragmented healthcare, diagnostic mistakes, and over-dosing,” said Martin Makary, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore and lead author of the study… Read More>>
Source: Medical Xpress
