Official statistics show a different picture, not only in the US, but in comparable countries.
N C H S - FASTATS - Leading Causes of Death
10 Leading Causes of Death, United States 1999
Death: Leading Causes of Death in Various Countries
We can, of course, always discuss the validity of any statistic material, but you need to realize that the invstigation that lead to this statement:
Quote:
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The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936.
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- is not the result of an investigation of 783,936 actual cases, but an extrapolated number, calculated from an investigation of a far lower number of cases.
The determination of whether a death is iatrogenic can nearly always be discussed. For instance, when a terminal cancer patient dies with heavy palliative treatment as the primary cause, you could call it iatrogenic, but ... witholding treatment would not have saved the patient's life.
Hans