Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Medical error is not the third leading cause of death

Skeptical Scalpel, MD
Policy
February 17, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

Ever since the publication of the infamous 2016 BMJ opinion piece claiming medical error should be considered the third leading cause of death in the U.S., the debate on the true incidence of deaths caused by medical error has been raging. Many, including me, felt the estimate of 251,000 deaths per year from medical error was grossly inflated. For example, the paper extrapolated the number of deaths from three outdated studies with a total of just 35 deaths, and medical error was not well-defined.

A new paper in BMJ Open Access by investigators from the U.K. looked at 70 studies involving 337,025 patients mostly treated in general hospitals. Of that total, 47,148 suffered harm, with 25,977 (55%) of harms judged as preventable.

The authors concluded, “The pooled prevalence for preventable patient harm was 6% (95% confidence interval 5% to 7%). A pooled proportion of 12% (9% to 15%) of preventable patient harm was severe or led to death.” I’ll do the math; 12% of 6% is 0.72% or just over 2400 preventable severe harms and deaths.

A recent literature review on the website Healthy Debate Canada cited three papers estimating the incidence of preventable deaths due to medical error ranged from less than 1% to 5.2% and said: “This would correspond to 15,000-35,000 deaths per year in the U.S., an order of magnitude lower than the BMJ estimate.”

Even one preventable death is too many. However, inflated figures like 251,000 deaths or even 440,000, as a 2013 paper claimed, undermine public confidence in medical care.

Some examples. The Canadian authors said calling medical error “the third leading cause of death” in the U.S. enabled supporters of the NRA to say doctors are more harmful than guns. Naturopaths and alternative news sites warned about the dangers of our health system. I blogged about an article from RT, the English language Russian “news” website, headlined “Medical errors kill hundreds of thousands each year in the U.S.”

From Healthy Debate: “In-hospital deaths from medical error are a small subset of all medical errors, and non-fatal errors cause considerable harm to patients. Considering that most of health care occurs in the ambulatory setting, there is an even larger potential for error to cause harm outside of hospitals.” Focusing too much on in-hospital deaths from error may direct attention away from other areas of quality improvement.

Medical error is not the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Will people stop saying it is? I doubt it. A 2018 paper published in Science looked at 126,000 story links tweeted by 3 million people and found “falsehoods were 70% more likely to be retweeted than the truth.”

“Skeptical Scalpel” is a surgeon who blogs at his self-titled site, Skeptical Scalpel.  This article originally appeared in Physician’s Weekly.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

What happens when abortion services aren't available

February 17, 2020 Kevin 9
…
Next

Keep attacking doctors: What the New York Times gets wrong about surprise medical bills

February 18, 2020 Kevin 13
…

Tagged as: Malpractice, Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
What happens when abortion services aren't available
Next Post >
Keep attacking doctors: What the New York Times gets wrong about surprise medical bills

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Skeptical Scalpel, MD

  • The hospital CEO who made a surgical incision. What happened?

    Skeptical Scalpel, MD
  • Should speed-eating contests be banned?

    Skeptical Scalpel, MD
  • Are hospitalists to blame for the fragmentation of medical care?

    Skeptical Scalpel, MD

Related Posts

  • Digital advances in the medical aid in dying movement

    Jennifer Lynn
  • A near-death experience taught this medical student a lesson

    Johnathan Yao, MD, MPH
  • Death through the eyes of a medical student

    Taliya Lantsman
  • Medical error disclosure programs: Old habits die hard

    Gail Handley
  • Caregivers have the power to prevent medical error

    Elizabeth Lerner Papautsky, PhD
  • How the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for social media training in medical education 

    Oscar Chen, Sera Choi, and Clara Seong

More in Policy

  • U.S. health care leadership must prepare for policy-driven change

    Lee Scheinbart, MD
  • How locum tenens work helps physicians and APPs reclaim control

    Brian Sutter
  • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

    Ilan Shapiro, MD
  • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ laws

    BJ Ferguson
  • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

    Carlin Lockwood
  • What Adam Smith would say about America’s for-profit health care

    M. Bennet Broner, PhD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • First impressions happen online—not in your exam room

      Sara Meyer | Social media
    • How deep transcranial magnetic stimulation is transforming mental health care

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Dedicated hypermobility clinics can transform patient care

      Katharina Schwan, MPH | Conditions
    • Why ADHD in adults is often missed—and why it matters [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?

      Jai Kumar, MD, Brian Nohomovich, DO, PhD and Leonid Shamban, DO | Meds
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • How deep transcranial magnetic stimulation is transforming mental health care

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • True stories of doctors reclaiming their humanity in a system that challenges it

      Alae Kawam, DO & Kim Downey, PT & Nicole Solomos, DO | Physician
    • How Gen Z is transforming mental health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

      Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • U.S. health care leadership must prepare for policy-driven change

      Lee Scheinbart, MD | Policy

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • First impressions happen online—not in your exam room

      Sara Meyer | Social media
    • How deep transcranial magnetic stimulation is transforming mental health care

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Dedicated hypermobility clinics can transform patient care

      Katharina Schwan, MPH | Conditions
    • Why ADHD in adults is often missed—and why it matters [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?

      Jai Kumar, MD, Brian Nohomovich, DO, PhD and Leonid Shamban, DO | Meds
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • How deep transcranial magnetic stimulation is transforming mental health care

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • True stories of doctors reclaiming their humanity in a system that challenges it

      Alae Kawam, DO & Kim Downey, PT & Nicole Solomos, DO | Physician
    • How Gen Z is transforming mental health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

      Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • U.S. health care leadership must prepare for policy-driven change

      Lee Scheinbart, MD | Policy

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Medical error is not the third leading cause of death
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...