Are Doctors the 3rd Leading Cause of Death?

Death from medical error is very difficult to measure and quantify but I think this study has reasons to be questioned. It has also unfortunately bred a lot of mistrust in the healthcare field.

Sources:

[devanreiss]

As a medical student, social media has almost convinced me that I am destined to do more harm than good as a doctor because it never seems like anyone has ever had good medical care on these platforms.

[michaell]

Dang so you're saying this is a nuanced complicated issue? BORING

[DocJakeDO]

Preach Doc Schmidt! Sadly the poor understanding of statistics of the general population and even physicians and nurses makes this kind of hypothetical case so damaging. Keep Up the great work and very clear concise and accurate discussion!

[armodudegiantfan]

Doc, besides your funny vids, you do a really good job of explaining things to the general public in an upfront, but non condescending way. Kudos to you

[adria]

Sadly, the population as a whole just aren't educated enough about medicine or studies. I have encountered patients claiming that their loved ones died as a result of a physician, but in reality, it was because they didn't understand any of it and blamed the easiest mark.

[wholeNwon]

During all of my years of training, practicing and teaching, I've worked (practiced and/or studied) in 19 hospitals. 3 were 1000 beds or more. I sat on 2 Quality Assurance committees that reviewed all deaths in one of the 1000 bed medical centers. I know of NO pts. who died because of medical errors. During that time, I did hear of 2 in two different small community hospitals but have no direct knowledge of the cases.
We did find rare cases of hospital-acquired infections with resistant organisms that resulted in pt. death. Most, but not all, of those pts. were immuno-compromised. Are hospitals dangerous places? Of course. Is it best to minimize the duration of your stay in one? Absolutely. But most pts. are unaware of all of the dedicated experts behind the scenes working 24/7 to make hospitalizations as safe as possible.

[fwizzybee]

Agree with your analysis of the study but I don’t think “just being there to give birth” is a very good reason to not worry about death given the higher rates of death during childbirth in the US compared to other countries…

[SuperJoker]

I feel like the last couple of years have strengthened the plausibility of this study.

[desertedham]

we certainly do cause harm. often. but it's an inevitability. and reality that we have to face. mistakes are made, risky surgeries / procedures are done and fail. side effects of medications are crippling but unpredictable. but the consequence of doing nothing is too great.

[ClydeWard-prqr]

Man! I love it! This is why people say "trust expert consensus", and not your own interpretation, or even a journalists interpretation of a study. And never trust single studies alone, or just one or two unless they have a very large sample size, low uncertainties, and are coming from reputable sources that have been reviewed by a LOT of people. Even then, it only ever strengthens a case, because "proof" is something for mathematicians, not really medical of physical sciences. When you become an expert in a ingle field, it makes you an expert in exactly one field, but becoming an expert has a lot of skills that transfer to other expertise. Just learning how to use the method will help a lot. Learning how to tell science from pseudoscience. That's why experts matter.

[alananderson]

Well, I just feel doctors should... continue doing the best they can given the information they have. Turns out medicine is hard and anyone who thinks they can do better, should try some step 3 practice questions, then admit they were wrong, and then have some understanding doctors are still people.

[RobinMs]

The worst was when I went in as an extremely well controlled type one diabetic with a stomach flu. This took place just over a decade ago. The hospitalist chose not to wake me from a nap (not a coma!) to ask if I use a pump (I do). He discontinued my insulin iv and I woke up in the icu. I was a grad student and had to borrow from my parents to cover the bills they had the audacity to charge me.

[t.k.]

I really love that togetherness in these comments.

[stevePDx]

As someone whose job is to review hospital admissions and treatments, I've never seen a medical or surgical error that led to a patient's death so far in my career. I've seen many complications of treatments, that were always corrected and intervened properly, but never leading to death. My understanding of these people who claim otherwise are people who fear things that they don't understand

[ColdRunnerGWN]

Why worry about facts when you can just form an opinion based on that FB page your weird old relative found?

[benjaminlippmann]

This is the most well put summary on the topic I have ever encountered. Thank you Doc.

[cameronno]

I've used the same documents even in RCAs. We (physicians/ providers) are human, even if trained, but it is noteworthy to discuss our mortality compared to other countries. I agree, it's multi-factorial, but we are also factors in that equation. Medical errors are likely under-reported, and some are only discussed as M&Ms. With that said, I appreciate your view on how our contribution is likely over-stated even if the frequency is under-reported. Most of us don't practice with intention to harm. However, we are incentivized to rush, which we all know leads to misdiagnoses, delays in care, and poor outcomes. This is a systemic issue and needs to be addressed as such.

[mellie]

Given how many times I've had to intervene to stop doctors killing me or someone i love, i think medical error is high and underrepresented.

[timothydavis]

people: "MeDiCaL ErRoR iS tHe tHiRd LeAdiNg CaUsE oF DeAtH" Also people: "I'm sick lemmie go to the ER" If you don't want us don't come

[dianerosenberg]

I appreciate this explanation. Thank you