Iatrogenic Disease

Hi All,

In case you've never seen this article that cites Iatrogenic disease as the
3rd leading cause of disease in the U.S., here it is:

What does the word iatrogenic mean? This term is defined as induced in a
patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially of a
complication of treatment.

The author is Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene
and Public Health, published July 26, 2000, and she describes how the US
health care system may contribute to poor health. *A comment on the study
first by Dr. Mercola: "**Folks, this is what they call a "Landmark Article".
Only several ones like this are published every year. One of the major
reasons it is so huge as that it is published in Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) which is the largest and one of the most
respected medical journals in the entire world."

*Here is the pertinent part of the study as outlined in Dr. Mercola's
article on the study:**

*ALL THESE ARE DEATHS PER YEAR:*

- *12,000 -- unnecessary surgery *
- *7,000 -- medication errors in hospitals *
- *20,000 -- other errors in hospitals *
- *80,000 -- infections in hospitals *
- *106,000 -- non-error, negative effects of drugs *

*These total to 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes*. To read the
whole article by Dr. Mercola:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2000/07/30/doctors-death-part-one.aspx
***All information is referenced.

This is the link to the actual study by Dr. Barbara Starfield, "Is US Health
Really the Best in the World?" PDF version:
http://silver.neep.wisc.edu/~lakes/iatrogenic.pdf
***All information is referenced. Article is reported in *Journal American
Medical AssociationJuly
26, 2000;284(4):483-5

Thanks for reading!
Sarah