Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Over 90,000 people die in the U.S. each year due to medical blunders

Okay, I'll play that game
Gran Hieronymous PoohbahYeti — (archived)

As a percentage of a population, how many people die from medical prcedures being incorrectly applied?

As a percentage of a population, how many people used to die when only shaministic or 'traditional' medicine was used to treat them.

The answer is simple. Look at the life span of even the poorest and most disenfranchised american. Look at the life span of the wealthiest class in a non-technological society. Look at the infiant mortality rates. Look at the early childhood mortality rates.

And its also notable that you reference medical blunders. In such cases, its not a failure of the techniques, technology and science of medicine- but a failure of their application and employment. Thats a different bird.

To make a fair comparison, ask yourself: how many people die every year, outside of old age (which is now 70,80 or even 90 or 100 years, as opposed to 35-40), after recieving properly administered sufficently current medical intervention? Add in to that, of course, vaccines.

Now, then take this as an assumption: 'Practitioners of pre-enlightenment medicine were 100% profficient, and always administered the best care'.

Now look at the mortality rates for those societies. Its easily derivable from looking at the fossile or human remains, or reading what they left behind.

Even in the best case for 'traditional' or 'shamanistic' medicine, the comparitive mortality rates don't even fall in the same domain. You are better off on medicare today than you were 500 years ago with medical techniques derived without the benefits of science.

You want to talk about class differences in the availability of care and quality of care in the contemporary system, or problems with the contemprary system? thats fine... There are A LOT of issues to be concerned about. However, contemporary scientific care contrasted with unscientific care is not even a valid comparison, the differences are so incredibly vast.

And another thing. You hear all the time from people who say they 'beat cancer with aryuvedic medicine' or 'homeopathic pills' or whatever. For nearly any affliction, there are some people who will live regardless of intervention (this is true of even AIDS infection, Metatastic Pancreatic Cancer and Leukemia!!). That is the wonder of the immune System and genetic variability.

For every person you see on Larry King or Ophra crowing about how they beat this-or-that affliction 'naturally', ask yourself: how many people died taking the same approach? Its selection Bias of the most stark kind. The dead do not tell their tale! Now consider we live in a population of 300,000,000 people. You should expect lots of people to pull through grave illnesses without real treatment. It does not mean that the bogus placebo treatment is the cause- it just means that some people get lucky and live to tell about it, while the dead ones (oddly) never speak up!

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