Death by Medicine (and) I have noticed that the NIH, Medline,

[HysteryDiagnosis]

and multiple articles written by medical doctors at LEF are not considered "information that should be viewed by people who have various concerns". Interesting to say the least.

WARNING 33 PAGE ADOBE DOCUMENT AT LINK:

http://www.drgrisanti.com/Death%20by%20Medicine.pdf


Death by Medicine By Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD 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)

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Medline searches can be done publicly and free @ pubmed.org

Not sure what you are getting at with the second part of your thread title? :shrug:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. It refers (in a nice way) to the threads that lockup when someone

asks people to post something/anything for them to read regarding certain health issues. It's understandable though from a legal aspect.

[wiley]

3. Really Rude - a 33 page PDF?

Perhaps you should specify clearly that your link downloads a 33 page PDF.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Done and please forgive.... I didn't note the size as I am on

that cable thing.

[Warpy]

5. Yeah, it's not like those Life Extension folks have an AGENDA

or anything to peddle, themselves.

Yes, our healthcare system is in crisis. Staffing shortages fueled by terrible working conditions are making our hospitals more hazardous every year. Exhausted people working mandatory extra 12 hour shifts at management's convenience are going to be prone to error. The FDA has been stacked with Big Pill lobbyists and religious zealots. Regulations meant to protect the public are being scoffed at. Medication that really would save lives is being withheld because of RELIGIOUS concerns. People are given carte blanche to refuse to do their jobs because of RELIGIOUS concerns. The system is more concerned with denial of care than delivery of it, thanks to rampant corporate greed.

However, anyone who trusts his life to Life Extension products and programs when he has been diagnosed with a life threatening disease is a fool. Vitamins won't cure cancer or a blocked coronary artery or bleeding ulcers. Those require aggressive medicine and the odds are still with you, even though our system is so badly broken.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. It's not the people, it's the system that has been diseased by

monetary influences.

[wiley]

10. Absolutely.

[Trillo]

6. It's curious that medical corporations get paid for services offered even

when those services results in death. So where's the monetary incentive "to cure"?

[Warpy]

8. Repeat business

'Nuff said.

[wiley]

9. Government funded health care for all

Unless it's fiscally more "sound" to let the elderly, sick and poor die. Currently we have a death by intentional neglect system at the federal level, and lots of really good individuals and small and large care providers being squuezed to reduce services of all kinds. You cannot omit the role of insurance companies in this slaughter.

[oscar111]

11. No charge, if die. Anyone know how widespread that is today?

I saw it some years back.

at the level of the individual dr.

How common is it today?

PS HOUSECALLS still done in Eng and Germany's socialized medicine.

[trotsky]

12. Specific problems with "Death by Medicine"

http://www.geocities.com/healthbase/null_hypothesis_laidler.html

In deriving his numbers on "bad outcomes", Mr. Null adds all types of adverse outcomes together without considering
(either through ignorance or intent) that many of these are not due to medical error or other failure but are merely the
natural consequences of the disease or injury. Infection, for instance, is usually not due to medical error but is a natural
risk of surgery, injury and disease. The question NOT asked is this: "How many of these adverse outcomes would have
occurred WITHOUT medical intervention." Let me give some examples.

Example 1: A patient develops a skin infection following surgery for an inflamed appendix. This infection is treated with
antibiotics and resolves over 7 - 10 days. This would be reported as a post-operative infection on the hospital statistics.
However, without surgical intervention, the patient would likely have died in 7 - 14 days of a ruptured appendix and
overwhelming peritonitis - another sort of infection.

Example 2: A patient comes to the hospital with chest pain - the diagnosis is myocardial infarction ("heart attack") and he is admitted to the ICU. Two hours later, he dies of heart failure. This is reported as an in-hospital death. He almost
certainly would have died at home without medical intervention, but his death is "credited" to the hospital because that is
where he died.

Example 3: A patient goes to her doctor's office complaining of a severe sore throat and gets a prescription for an
antibiotic. Shortly after taking the first capsule, she develops a rash. In the emergency room, she is diagnosed with a mild
allergic reaction to the antibiotic and sent home with a different antibiotic. This is reported as an adverse drug reaction
(ADR).

These are not just hypothetical cases - each of these situations actually occurred as stated above.

Such fearmongering does nothing to actually help people.