America's Healthcare System is the Third Leading Cause of Death

http://www.health-care-reform.net/causedeath.htm    America's Healthcare System is the Third Leading Cause of Death   Barbara Starfield, M.D. (2000)    Summary by Kah Ying Choo This Journal of the American Medical Association article illuminates the failure of the U.S. medical system in providing  decent medical care for Americans. In spite of the rising health care costs that provide the illusion of improving health care, the American people do not enjoy good health, compared with their counterparts in the industrialized nations. Among thirteen countries including Japan, Sweden, France and Canada, the U.S. was ranked 12th, based on the measurement of 16 health indicators such as life expectancy, low-birth-weight averages and infant mortality.  In another comparison reported by the World Health Organization that used a different set of health indicators, the U.S. also fared poorly with a ranking of 15 among 25 industrialized nations. Although many people attribute poor health to the bad habits of the American public, Starfield (2000) points out that the  Americans do not lead an unhealthy lifestyle compared to their  counterparts.  For example, only 28 percent of the male population  in the U.S. smoked, thus making it the third best nation in the category of smoking among the 13 industrialized nations. The U.S. population also achieved a high ranking (5th best) for alcohol consumption.  In the category of men aged 50 to 70 years, the U.S. had the third lowest mean cholesterol concentrations among 13 industrialized nations. Therefore, the perception that the American public’s poor health is a result of their  negative health habits is false. Even more significantly, the medical system has played a large role in undermining the health of Americans.  According to several research studies in the last decade, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments: • 12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery • 7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals • 20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals • 80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals • 106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs    Thus, America's healthcare-system-induced deaths are the third leading cause of the death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer.    One of the key problems of the U.S. health system is that as many as 40 million people in the U.S. do not have access to healthcare.  The social and economic inequalities that are an integral part of American  society are mirrored in the inequality of access to the health care system.  Essentially, families of low socioeconomic status are cut off from receiving a decent level of health care. By citing these statistics, Starfield (2000) highlights  the need to examine the type of health care provided to the U.S. population.  The traditional medical paradigm that emphasizes the use of prescription medicine and medical treatment has not only failed to  improve the health of Americans, but also led to the decline in the overall well-being of Americans. [...] Starfield’s (2000) article is invaluable in unveiling  the catastrophic effects of the medical treatments  provided to the American people.   In order to improve the medical system,  American policymakers and the medical   establishment need to adopt a comprehensive  approach and critically examine the failure of the  richest country in the world to provide  decent health care for its people. […]