Iatrogenic Deaths: The Unspoken Killer

Authored by Tony Perkin:

As every american will someday need to see a doctor they should be aware of this caveat. A little known word, iatrogenic,that makes statistical research on the internet possible. Iatrogenic means " induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures" (Webster's dictionary). Many studies have been done by M.D's, PHD's and other professional's that consider this deadly phenomenon to be a national catastrophe plied on unsuspecting citizens who's only act was to go and see their trusted doctor for an innocuous reason. Doctors and hospitals are we'll aware of the consequences of what may happen if the truth of this plague becomes common public knowledge. Every year health insurance rates continue to increase with no end in sight, people may just say they'll keep their money and take their chances without subjecting their lives to the possiblity of death for no reason.

It is estimated that only five to twenty percent of deaths due to iatrogenic causes ever go reported and the number reported is still astounding! As many as two hundred and twenty five thousand deaths occurred in the year 2000 (jama report by Dr Barbara Starfied MD, MHP, Johns Hopkins univ.) and according to a healthgrades study in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 unneccessary deaths amounted to195,000 per year, this carnage due to medical mistakes that frequently end in death, people that should still be leading productive lives, seeing their grandchildren grow and prosper, now dead for no reason and their death covered up by physicians and hospitals that do not want the truth to become commonly known to the public because the medical community answers to wall street and not their patients.

Very few American's have ever heard of the word iatrogenic, unless the words 'iatrogenic deaths' is used in search engines doing research on the internet to find out statistical information is very difficult and not exactly abundant. According to Dr. Starfield's report in the year 2000, 9.4% of hospital deaths were found to be due to iatrogenic causes, that's one in ten unsuspecting people that die unnecessarily due to their doctors mistakes.In the year 2008 the California legislature approved a law authored by Democratic Sen. Elaine Alquist to require hospital's to report iatrogenic deaths so the general public may know the kind of risks that they take when seeing their doctor, currently that law is being challenged in court by the hospital lobby in an attempt to stop implementation. Gov. Jerry Brown is being asked to see that this law is implemented, hopefully he will act in public's best interest.

Sen. Mitch Mc Connell ((R) Kentucky) in a televised speech said the U.S. has the 'best healthcare in the world' making these numbers all the more unacceptable. With Americans spending more per capita on healthcare than any other democratic nation in the world and with the specter of ever increasing insurance rates we should demand better healthcare and disclosure. Without accurate reporting the public's interest will never be adequately addressed.