如果您还不知道，请读下面的文章：误诊（误治）是美国第三大死因，仅次于心脏病和癌。

这也可以作为探讨中西医的一个重要参考。至今人对人体的认识可能还非常有限，如果说完全了解是100%的话，可能中西医都只有做到很小的一部分。（赞成某一方的可以根据自己的认识或感觉给出这个百分数）。可能比较某一方比另一方"好/先进“多少，根本没有太大的意义。重要的是看实际效果。

每年死225,000人是什么概念？大约是 每天死 225,000/365=616人。 一架波音737大约坐154人，就是说，年复一年，每天都有四架几乎满员的737出事故并全体罹难。无论谁大概都难以想象这样的事情发生而公众无动于衷。

The Third Leading Cause of Death is…Doctors?

That’s right…research is showing that doctors in America kill roughly 225,000 people every year. This makes doctors the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health provides some startling numbers:

12,000 people are killed through unnecessary surgery

7,000 are killed as a result of hospital medication errors

20,000 are killed as a result of other hospital errors

80,000 are killed by hospital-acquired infections

106,000 are killed by drugs prescribed to them

Significantly, these numbers do not include individuals who suffer non-lethal injuries or other negative effects of medical treatment.

As Americans, we also pay the highest costs in the world for our health care. At these prices, shouldn’t we expect the world’s best health care? But we are not getting it.

Of 13 countries in a recent comparison, the United States ranks an average of 12th (second from the bottom) for 16 available health indicators. More specifically, the ranking of the US on several indicators was:

13th (last) for low-birth-weight percentages

13th for neonatal mortality and infant mortality overall

11th for post-neonatal mortality

13th for years of potential life lost (excluding external causes)

11th for life expectancy at 1 year for females, 12th for males

The numbers are appalling, and need to be addressed immediately. If an American jumbo jet crashed every single day, killing every passenger on board day after day, year after year, the country would be up in arms. This issue should be no different. Medical professionals who injure or kill patients through negligence need to be held responsible for the harms they cause.