Medicine Death Statistics.

[Guest guest]

Kathelee

Thursday, January 26, 2006 1:20 PM

Conventional Medicine is now the #1 Cause of Death

 

 

Posted as received. -The Webmaster

 

 

Lou & Dr. Bob Wynman at Lake Tahoe

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

3 Leading Causes of Death?

 

 

 

Do you care about someone who still somehow believes the medical system works

for anything but trauma cases ... and yet you still feel that person might have

a chance of recognizing truth if it were presented in a very professional

format?

 

This might be a great tool to help you help them. Just received this morning.

Enjoy:

 

According an extremely comprehensive and well-documented report (30 pages,

including about 160 documented references with three MD's & 2 Ph researchers as

authors) March, 2004 Life Extension Magazine, Conventional Medicine is now the

#1 cause of death, followed by heart disease & cancer (stroke must be #4 now?).

 

I've only attempted to copy sections 1 & 2 of the six-section article below for

you--read the whole thing at the Life Extension Foundation site, www.lef.org &

perhaps print a copy for any of your health professional friends who still deny

that drugs kill their patients 'cause there's no documentation to support the

statement.

 

Given that all the drugs & medicines we " licensed health professionals " write

prescriptions for are toxic poisons to living things, I'd suspect that the

783,936 deaths per year number cited below is short of the real number ... and

2.2 million reports of disability and chronic suffering due to those toxins is

also likely far sort of reality.

The report does state:

" Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic* deaths is more than

all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire

history. and ... an estimated 164 million people—more than half of the total US

population—receive unneeded medical treatment over the course of a decade. "

 

*What's iatrogenesis? from the Greek roots iatros = doctor & genesis =

caused: " DRUG IATROGENESIS -- Prescription drugs constitute the major

treatment modality of scientific medicine. With the discovery of the “germ

theory,” medical scientists convinced the public that infectious organisms were

the cause of illness. Finding the “cure” for these infections proved much harder

than anyone imagined. From the beginning, chemical drugs promised much more than

they delivered. But far beyond not working, the drugs also caused incalculable

side effects. The drugs themselves, even when properly prescribed, have side

effects that can be fatal, as Lazarou's study(1) showed. But human error can

make the situation even worse. "

Nikken, encompassing all five Pillars of Health, is providing answers to any

humans willing to act to attain and maintain optimum health ... in all those

Five Pillars. I see Natural Hygiene as the nutrition part of those five pillars

(a minority opinion, of course!).

 

We ARE in the right place at the right time!

 

 

Life Extension Magazine March 2004 Death by Medicine

 

Something is wrong when regulatory agencies pretend that vitamins are

dangerous, yet ignore published statistics showing that government-sanctioned

medicine is the real hazard.

Until now, Life Extension could cite only isolated statistics to make its case

about the dangers of conventional medicine. No one had ever analyzed and

combined ALL of the published literature dealing with injuries and deaths caused

by government-protected medicine. That has now changed.

A group of researchers meticulously reviewed the statistical evidence and

their findings are absolutely shocking.4 These researchers have authored a paper

titled “Death by Medicine” that presents compelling evidence that today’s system

frequently causes more harm than good.

This fully referenced report shows the number of people having in-hospital,

adverse reactions to prescribed drugs to be 2.2 million per year. The number of

unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections is 20 million

per year. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed

annually is 7.5 million per year. The number of people exposed to unnecessary

hospitalization annually is 8.9 million per year.

The most stunning statistic, however, is that the total number of deaths

caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now

evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and

injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart

disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer

was 553,251.5)

We had intended to publish the entire text of “Death By Medicine” in this

month’s issue. The article uncovered so many problems with conventional medicine

however, that it became too long to fit within these pages. We have instead put

it on our website ( www.lef.org ).

We placed this article on our website to memorialize the failure of the

American medical system. By exposing these gruesome statistics in painstaking

detail, we provide a basis for competent and compassionate medical professionals

to recognize the inadequacies of today’s system and at least attempt to

institute meaningful reforms.

 

Death by Medicine

 

By Gary Null, PhD;

Carolyn Dean MD, ND;

Martin Feldman, MD;

Debora Rasio, MD; and

Dorothy Smith, PhD

 

Natural medicine is under siege, as pharmaceutical company lobbyists urge

lawmakers to deprive Americans of the benefits of dietary supplements.

Drug-company front groups have launched slanderous media campaigns to discredit

the value of healthy lifestyles. The FDA continues to interfere with those who

offer natural products that compete with prescription drugs.

These attacks against natural medicine obscure a lethal problem that until now

was buried in thousands of pages of scientific text. In response to these

baseless challenges to natural medicine, the Nutrition Institute of America

commissioned an independent review of the quality of “government-approved”

medicine. The startling findings from this meticulous study indicate that

conventional medicine is “the leading cause of death” in the United States .

The Nutrition Institute of America is a nonprofit organization that has

sponsored independent research for the past 30 years. To support its bold claim

that conventional medicine is America 's number-one killer, the Nutritional

Institute of America mandated that every “count” in this “indictment” of US

medicine be validated by published, peer-reviewed scientific studies.

What you are about to read is a stunning compilation of facts that documents

that those who seek to abolish consumer access to natural therapies are

misleading the public. Over 700,000 Americans die each year at the hands of

government-sanctioned medicine, while the FDA and other government agencies

pretend to protect the public by harassing those who offer safe alternatives.

A definitive review of medical peer-reviewed journals and government health

statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good.

Each year approximately 2.2 million US hospital patients experience adverse

drug reactions (ADRs) to prescribed medications.(1) In 1995, Dr. Richard Besser

of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the

number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections to be

20 million; in 2003, Dr. Besser spoke in terms of tens of millions of

unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually.(2, 2a) Approximately 7.5 million

unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed annually in the US,(3)

while approximately 8.9 million Americans are hospitalized unnecessarily.(4)

As shown in the following table, the estimated total number of iatrogenic

deaths—that is, deaths induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by

medical treatment or diagnostic procedures— in the US annually is 783,936. It is

evident that the American medical system is itself the leading cause of death

and injury in the US . By comparison, approximately 699,697 Americans died of

heart in 2001, while 553,251 died of cancer.(5) Table 1: Estimated

Annual Mortality and Economic Cost of Medical Intervention

Condition Deaths Cost Author Adverse Drug Reactions 106,000

$12 billion Lazarou(1), Suh (49) Medical error 98,000 $2 billion IOM(6)

Bedsores 115,000 $55 billion Xakellis(7), Barczak (8) Infection 88,000

$5 billion Weinstein(9), MMWR (10) Malnutrition 108,800 -----------

Nurses Coalition(11) Outpatients 199,000 $77 billion Starfield(12),

Weingart(112) Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion HCUP(3,13)

Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ(85) Total 783,936 $282 billion

Using Leape's 1997 medical and drug error rate of 3 million(14) multiplied by

the 14% fatality rate he used in 1994(16) produces an annual death rate of

420,000 for drug errors and medical errors combined. Using this number instead

of Lazorou's 106,000 drug errors and the Institute of Medicine 's (IOM)

estimated 98,000 annual medical errors would add another 216,000 deaths, for a

total of 999,936 deaths annually. Table 2: Estimated Annual Mortality

and Economic Cost of Medical Intervention

Condition Deaths Cost Author ADR/med error 420,000 $200

billion Leape(14) Bedsores 115,000 $55 billion Xakellis(7), Barczak (8)

Infection 88,000 $5 billion Weinstein(9), MMWR (10) Malnutrition 108,800

----------- Nurses Coalition(11) Outpatients 199,000 $77 billion

Starfield(12), Weingart(112) Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion

HCUP(3,13) Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ(85) Total 999,936

The enumerating of unnecessary medical events is very important in our

analysis. Any invasive, unnecessary medical procedure must be considered as part

of the larger iatrogenic picture. Unfortunately, cause and effect go

unmonitored. The figures on unnecessary events represent people who are thrust

into a dangerous health care system. Each of these 16.4 million lives is being

affected in ways that could have fatal consequences. Simply entering a hospital

could result in the following:

 

In 16.4 million people, a 2.1% chance (affecting 186,000) of a serious

adverse drug reaction(1)

In 16.4 million people, a 5-6% chance (affecting 489,500) of acquiring a

nosocomial infection(9)

In16.4 million people, a 4-36% chance (affecting 1.78 million) of having an

iatrogenic injury (medical error and adverse drug reactions).(16)

In 16.4 million people, a 17% chance (affecting 1.3 million) of a procedure

error.(40)

These statistics represent a one-year time span. Working with the most

conservative figures from our statistics, we project the following 10-year death

rates. Table 3: Estimated 10-Year Death Rates from Medical

Intervention

Condition 10-Year Deaths Author Adverse Drug Reaction 1.06

million (1) Medical error 0.98 million (6) Bedsores 1.15 million

(7,8) Nosocomial Infection 0.88 million (9,10) Malnutrition 1.09

million (11) Outpatients 1.99 million (12, 112) Unnecessary Procedures

371,360 (3,13) Surgery-related 320,000 (85) Total 7,841,360

Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic deaths is more than all

the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire history.

Our projected figures for unnecessary medical events occurring over a 10-year

period also are dramatic. Table 4: Estimated 10-Year Unnecessary

Medical Events

Unnecessary Events 10-year Number Iatrogenic Events

Hospitalization 89 million(4) 17 million Procedures 75 million(3) 15

million Total 164 million

These figures show that an estimated 164 million people—more than half of the

total US population—receive unneeded medical treatment over the course of a

decade.

INTRODUCTION

Never before have the complete statistics on the multiple causes of

iatrogenesis been combined in one article. Medical science amasses tens of

thousands of papers annually, each representing a tiny fragment of the whole

picture. To look at only one piece and try to understand the benefits and risks

is like standing an inch away from an elephant and trying to describe everything

about it. You have to step back to see the big picture, as we have done here.

Each specialty, each division of medicine keeps its own records and data on

morbidity and mortality. We have now completed the painstaking work of reviewing

thousands of studies and putting pieces of the puzzle together.

Is American Medicine Working?

US health care spending reached $1.6 trillion in 2003, representing 14% of the

nation's gross national product.(15) Considering this enormous expenditure, we

should have the best medicine in the world. We should be preventing and

reversing disease, and doing minimal harm. Careful and objective review,

however, shows we are doing the opposite. Because of the extraordinarily narrow,

technologically driven context in which contemporary medicine examines the human

condition, we are completely missing the larger picture.

Medicine is not taking into consideration the following critically important

aspects of a healthy human organism: (a) stress and how it adversely affects the

immune system and life processes; (b) insufficient exercise; © excessive

caloric intake; (d) highly processed and denatured foods grown in denatured and

chemically damaged soil; and (e) exposure to tens of thousands of environmental

toxins. Instead of minimizing these disease-causing factors, we cause more

illness through medical technology, diagnostic testing, overuse of medical and

surgical procedures, and overuse of pharmaceutical drugs. The huge disservice of

this therapeutic strategy is the result of little effort or money being spent on

preventing disease.

Underreporting of Iatrogenic Events

As few as 5% and no more than 20% of iatrogenic acts are ever

reported.(16,24,25,33,34) This implies that if medical errors were completely

and accurately reported, we would have an annual iatrogenic death toll much

higher than 783,936. In 1994, Leape said his figure of 180,000 medical mistakes

resulting in death annually was equivalent to three jumbo-jet crashes every two

days.(16) Our considerably higher figure is equivalent to six jumbo jets are

falling out of the sky each day.

What we must deduce from this report is that medicine is in need of complete

and total reform—from the curriculum in medical schools to protecting patients

from excessive medical intervention. It is obvious that we cannot change

anything if we are not honest about what needs to be changed. This report simply

shows the degree to which change is required.

We are fully aware of what stands in the way of change: powerful

pharmaceutical and medical technology companies, along with other powerful

groups with enormous vested interests in the business of medicine. They fund

medical research, support medical schools and hospitals, and advertise in

medical journals. With deep pockets, they entice scientists and academics to

support their efforts. Such funding can sway the balance of opinion from

professional caution to uncritical acceptance of new therapies and drugs. You

have only to look at the people who make up the hospital, medical, and

government health advisory boards to see conflicts of interest. The public is

mostly unaware of these interlocking interests.

For example, a 2003 study found that nearly half of medical school faculty who

serve on institutional review boards (IRB) to advise on clinical trial research

also serve as consultants to the pharmaceutical industry.(17) The study authors

were concerned that such representation could cause potential conflicts of

interest. A news release by Dr. Erik Campbell, the lead author, said, " Our

previous research with faculty has shown us that ties to industry can affect

scientific behavior, leading to such things as trade secrecy and delays in

publishing research. It's possible that similar relationships with companies

could affect IRB members' activities and attitudes.”(18)

Medical Ethics and Conflict of Interest in Scientific Medicine

Jonathan Quick, director of essential drugs and medicines policy for the World

Health Organization (WHO), wrote in a recent WHO bulletin: " If clinical trials

become a commercial venture in which self-interest overrules public interest and

desire overrules science, then the social contract which allows research on

human subjects in return for medical advances is broken. " (19)

As former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine , Dr. Marcia Angell

struggled to bring greater attention to the problem of commercializing

scientific research. In her outgoing editorial entitled “ Is Academic Medicine

for Sale?” Angell said that growing conflicts of interest are tainting science

and called for stronger restrictions on pharmaceutical stock ownership and other

financial incentives for researchers:(20) “When the boundaries between industry

and academic medicine become as blurred as they are now, the business goals of

industry influence the mission of medical schools in multiple ways.” She did not

discount the benefits of research but said a Faustian bargain now existed

between medical schools and the pharmaceutical industry.

Angell left the New England Journal in June 2000. In June 2002, the New

England Journal of Medicine announced that it would accept journalists who

accept money from drug companies because it was too difficult to find ones who

have no ties. Another former editor of the journal, Dr. Jerome Kassirer, said

that was not the case and that plenty of researchers are available who do not

work for drug companies.(21) According to an ABC news report, pharmaceutical

companies spend over $2 billion a year on over 314,000 events attended by

doctors.

The ABC news report also noted that a survey of clinical trials revealed that

when a drug company funds a study, there is a 90% chance that the drug will be

perceived as effective whereas a non-drug-company-funded study will show

favorable results only 50% of the time. It appears that money can't buy you love

but it can buy any " scientific " result desired.

Cynthia Crossen, a staffer for the Wall Street Journal, i n 1996 published

Tainted Truth : The Manipulation of Fact in America , a book about the

widespread practice of lying with statistics.(22) Commenting on the state of

scientific research, she wrote: “The road to hell was paved with the flood of

corporate research dollars that eagerly filled gaps left by slashed government

research funding.” Her data on financial involvement showed that in l981 the

drug industry “gave” $292 million to colleges and universities for research. By

l991, this figure had risen to $2.1 billion.

 

For information about the Natural Hygiene part of the solution, check at

http://www.wynman.com/link7a.html. for the Nikken part,

http://www.wellness-forever.com.

 

 

" Opportunities multiply as they are seized. " - Sun Tzu, Author

 

lou & dr. bob wynman, lake tahoe

 

NOTE: We respect your wishes. Please reply with " Delete " in Subject or

Message blanks if you'd prefer we don't send email information to you! & if you

prefer only certain KINDS of info, we'll accommodate that request too!

 

kathelee

Matt: 10:16

 

 

 

" Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest

of life by the power of the spirit. " - Aurobindo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autos. Looking for a sweet ride? Get pricing, reviews, & more on new and

used cars.