| The figure has been disputed [0] but it originates from an analysis done by a John Hopkins University doctor published in the BMJ [1][2]: > We define death due to medical error as death due to 1) an error in judgment, skill, or coordination of care, 2) a diagnostic error, 3) a system defect resulting in death or a failure to rescue a patient from death, or 4) a preventable adverse event. The prevalence of death due to medical error leading to patient deaths has been established in the literature. From studies that analyzed documented health records, we calculated a pooled incidence rate of 251,454 deaths per year. > (1) If we project this quantity into the total number of deaths in the year 2013 (2,596,993 deaths), they would account for 9.7% of all deaths in the nation. > (2) This figure far surpasses the current third leading cause of death on the CDC’s most recent rank order. Moreover, the 251,454 estimate we derived from the literature is an underestimate because the studies conducted did not include outpatient deaths or deaths at home due to a medical error. [0] https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/09/medical-errors-deaths-bm... [1] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2822345-Hopkins-CDC-... [2] https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139 |