What is the number one cause of death in america?
It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251. 5 The estimated totals for 2001 using conservative figures: TOTAL deaths; 783,936 cost $282 billion We could have an even higher death rate by using Dr. Lucien Leape’s 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million. 14 Multiplied by the fatality rate of 14 percent (that Leape used in 1994 16 we arrive at an annual death rate of 420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. If we put this number in place of Lazorou’s 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 98,000 medical errors, we could add another 216,000 deaths making a total of 999,936 deaths annually. TOTAL 999,936 Now, how about some change we can believe in!
