# Medical misadventure

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-misadventure/566314>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 4, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-misadventure/566314 "2011-01-04T04:50:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jakesteele](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-misadventure/566314/1 "2011-01-04T04:50:20Z")

</div>

I’m wondering if anyone knows about how many people are killed or harmed by medical misadventure on a yearly basis? This would include malpractice, botched operations, actual deaths, etc.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![CTburns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a5b964/32.png) [@CTburns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CTburns)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-misadventure/566314/2 "2011-01-04T04:58:21Z")

</div>

Some government estimates in the US are around 100,000 people die from medical errors. [Patients & Consumers | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality](http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/20tips.htm)  
I’m sorry, that number is for in-patient deaths from medical errors.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-misadventure/566314/3 "2011-01-04T05:02:43Z")

</div>

The usual sound bite is that the number of people killed by medical error in the US is the same as if a jumbo jet fell from the sky every day (with all on board killed). So, around 180,000 iatrogenic deaths per annum.

[This site](http://www.ourcivilisation.com/medicine/usamed.htm) seems rather hysterical, but does have what appears to be an excellent set of references.

ETA: It’s actually productive to Googol for ‘jumbo jet falling from sky every day medical error’ - you get lots of relevant hits.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-misadventure/566314/4 "2011-01-04T22:39:56Z")

</div>

However \*most \*people vonerable to medical misadventure had something else wrong with them. Why else would the vast majority of them have a medical procedure in the first place?