This is fishy. I think the actual conclusion is that illnesses that require hospitalization contribute to the deaths of ~700,000 a year. They list 115,000 as dying from bedsores a year. Yes, this is huge, but it doesn't recognize the fact that people get bedsores because they are
bedridden, it is very hard to keep someone who is completely bedridden from getting such bedsores, and they are very difficult to treat. If the bedridden were not in hospitals that are used to treating the bedridden to prevent bedsores (cushioning, changing the patient's position frequently, and even the use of specialized slings for paralyzed patients) the numbers would be vastly higher. And 88,000 dying of infection is large as well, but most people who are hospitalized suffer from compromised immune systems so a certain number of fatal infections are inevitable. Malnutrition? Are they claiming that doctors are starving patients? These are probably those in the last stages of terminal disease--cancer patients and those with AIDS, with some anorexic patients included as well. Surgery-related deaths are supposed to amount to 32,000 a year, but I think any of us would realize that life-saving surgeries carry a chance of fatality also. And what do deaths in Outpatients and Unnecessary Procedures include? As well, they do not consider that many unnecessary procedures are only found to be unnecessary after they are completed, and in some cases turn out to be completely necessary and initiate life-saving care.
I'm not convinced. The classifications are at times to vague and fail to consider that people being treated by the medical profession are ill and much more likely to die from a myriad of causes than the general population whether in a hospital or in any other setting.
I agree that there are unnecessary treatments given and that antibiotics are overused, but this is a far cry from saying receiving medical care is the leading cause of death.
I think you have been too-well propagandized by doctor shows on TV. Medicine still needs a qualimetrics revolution. It is still a medieval craft, not a science or even properly a profession. "Managed care" was supposed to bring quality control to medicine but it has been a fiasco, and has probably made a bad situation worse.