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To: JohnRLott
I remember reading that "More people are killed by doctors than by guns"
7 posted on 10/18/2010 1:55:28 PM PDT by capt. norm (Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.)
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To: capt. norm
"I remember reading that "More people are killed by doctors than by guns""

Originally posted here on FR as a vanity, but based on an article in the Seattle main newspaper (which only included deaths from medical accidents). The vanity part added the numbers for accidental firearms deaths from federal statistics, and calculated the ratios.

It was picked up from here and spread LOTS of places, including the NRA's American Rifleman magazine, and "bounced back" to FR numerous times. The original vanity was lost completely in one of the early FR database.

The original sense was that more people die accidentally from "medical misadventure" (i.e. medical "accidents" from all causes, which includes nurses and pharmacists errors) than by "firearms accidents", so it wasn't "killed by doctors" vs. "killed by guns", though the latter is also true.

The latest shows about 100,000 deaths/year due to "medical misadventure", and about 35,000 deaths per year from guns (including murder, suicide, as well as accidents). But the ratio comparing accidental gun deaths is more germane, as the number of "medical misadventure" deaths that were murders or suicides is not knowable.

18 posted on 10/18/2010 3:40:24 PM PDT by Wonder Warthog
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