[makomk]

Surely the rate of death from both accidental injuries and violent crime is affected by access to emergency medical care, though? You can't disentangle the two that easily.

[barry-cotter]

That's right. If trauma medicine was still at the levels of the 70's the US murder rate would be about five times higher than it is.

[ableal]

That quiet little phrase may be the most intriguing thing I read all year.

Looking at things like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States, it implies that the US murder rate would have doubled, rather than halved.

I'd suggest it is worth a separate post.