we kill people. a lot

[Off Label]

Might as well dive right in with the latest sexy news about the job we all do...

http://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139

Sure, there are problems, but this is BS. Anyone see why?

[Just Plain Ruff]

My first response is this,  we supposedly have a huge amount of deaths from medical error but it's my understanding that there is not a truly robust set of reporting mechanisms in reporting medical errors so how can we be sure that the numbers are correct when the true numbers are not being reported????????

Plus the neat cool diagram with those awesome circles, has this quote  "Based on our estimate, medical error is the 3rd most common cause of death in the US" this is an estimate people.  All their figures seem to be based on at least 5 year old if not older data and that's a problem to me.  Anyone else?  

Plus, its an estimate, an estimates are just that, someones made up or estimated figures.  

And finally, most of their references cited are at least 3 if not 5 years old.  

[Off Label]

All that is troublesome... what struck me mostly was the definitions of what a medical error actually was. When people hear 'errors' they think misdiagnosis, wrong drug or dose, or wrong site surgery or something along those lines.

All of those are included in their working definitions but also are simple change of treatment plans and treatments that did not result in the desired end. Given these definitions of course you could establish that error is the 3rd leading cause of  death in the US.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Ahhhh,  I get that as well.  I didn't catch that.