[Wonder Warthog]

A family friend had a colonoscopy done as an outpatient prodecure. He almost bled to death in the doctor's office. The doctor panicked when he saw the bleeding, and it was only the quick action on the nurse's part that saved his life. Physician incompetence kills more people than guns.

[Psycho Francis]

How many guns does physician incompetence kill?

Physician incompetence kills more people than guns.

[Geritol]

"Physician incompetence kills more people than guns"

You got that right. In many "civilized countries" the medical and pharmaceutical industries take a terrible toll. The US and Australia had something like 1 in 9 or 1 in 11 of all deaths due directly to the actions of a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or related fields. That is many times the deaths due to guns, cars, telemarketers combined.

[kittymyrib]

Physician errors and medicine mix-ups in hospitals are responsible for over 100,000 deaths each year. Some years ago, doctors went on strike for a couple of weeks. When it became embarrassingly obvious that the death rate was plummeting, they decided to end their strike. Think about that when you consider checking into a hospital.