Medical Error- the third leading cause of death in the US

BMJ has recently published an article on death caused medical error and how the number are underestimated. If you ask a group of health professional what are  the top five causes of death, medical error would not be on the list. And that is because in the US the death statistics compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are compiled using death certificates filled out by physicians, funeral directors, medical examiners and coroners.
But another major limitation of the death certificate is that it relies on assigning an International Classification of Disease (ICD) code to the cause of death. There is no code to capture diagnostic error, poor judgement, communication breakdown or inadequate skill which can directly result in patient harm and death.
"People don't just die from heart attacks and bacteria, they die from system-wide failings and poorly coordinated care," lead author Dr. Martin Makary, a professor of surgery and health policy at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine," "It's medical care gone awry."
 NSW Health staff can read the full text of the article in BMJ via CIAP otherwise ask your library staff.

• Makary Martin A, Daniel Michael. Medical error—the third leading cause of death in the US BMJ 2016; 353 :i2139