Is the ~30th cause of death in Canada. In US it's the ~3rd. Why the order of magnitude difference? Is US healthcare 10x more incompetent or are these stats massaged?
> Analyzing medical death rate data over an eight-year period, Johns Hopkins patient safety experts have calculated that more than 250,000 deaths per year are due to medical error in the U.S. Their figure, published May 3 in The BMJ, surpasses the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) third leading cause of death — respiratory disease, which kills close to 150,000 people per year.
> The Johns Hopkins team says the CDC’s way of collecting national health statistics fails to classify medical errors separately on the death certificate. The researchers are advocating for updated criteria for classifying deaths on death certificates.
It's possible that more low-probability-of-success heroics are attempted in the US (especially on the elderly). It would line up with the system level incentives differences between the two places and it would produce the difference you mention.
I wouldn't be surprised if many people in the US just don't go back to the hospital when they get infections etc from surgery because of the medical bills.
I think something like this is most likely. It's rare in Canada for legal action to be taken (or to succeed) for these kinds of things.
Though I wouldn't rule out accessibility of care as being in Canada's favour, even with our rather awful doctor and nurse shortages right now. It would be interesting to see these stats broken down by region.
Healthcare everywhere is rationed. But in Canada it is mostly rationed on a medical priority instead of ability-to-pay priority.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm