Doctor-Caused Diseases Surging
Iatrogenesis (illness caused by the doctor) is one of the most rapidly spreading epidemics of our time.
Behind heart disease and cancer, medical doctors are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. The
famous physician Charles E. Page, M.D. once stated: “The cause of most disease is in the poisonous drugs
physicians superstitiously give in order to affect a cure.” Medical intervention used for some of the most
benign conditions has created even life-threatening situations for many patients. Therefore, the question
arises; which is more dangerous to your health, the disease or the treatment for the disease? The following
statistics released by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services may provide the answer.
In the United States there are 700,000 physicians. Accidental deaths caused by physicians are 120,000
per year. The risk at dying at the hand of your doctor is therefore substantial. In a recent Harvard
University study, researchers found that "long-shift" doctors committed five times as many diagnostic
errors as their shorter-shift counterparts. These weren't just errors in diagnosis. In one instance, a long-
shifter ordered 10 times the correct dose of a powerful blood-pressure drug. Another error caused a
patient's lung to collapse when a sleepy intern botched inserting a tube into a nearby artery.
In yet another instance, a tranquilizer overdose caused one patient to suffer a dangerously low
heartbeat and blood pressure. Hospitals have a tight strategy for keeping costs down and making more
profits. So rather than paying additional doctors, they double-up the shifts of the least experienced staffer
they have. (The study’s report cites an average 80-hour work week for interns.)
Death Lurking In Prescription And Over-The-Counter Drugs
In addition to accidental death caused by physicians, patients also face the risk of dying from the side
effects of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. According to a January 2005 report, the
dangerous arthritis drug Vioxx apparently has killed over 135,000 people. Then consider the hundreds of
OTCs, such as aspirin. This “harmless” drug increases the risk of potentially lethal internal bleeding; it
also makes blood more likely to clot, not less!
And did you know that taking ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) in combination with aspirin actually doubles
your risk of death from heart-related causes! According to a study of over 7,000 patients' medical records
spanning eight years, if you take ibuprofen for any reason—say, arthritis pain relief—while engaged in
aspirin therapy for heart disease, you are twice as likely to die from a heart attack or stroke because of the
way these two powerful drugs interact. The study, which was conducted by Britain's Medical Research
Council and published in The Lancet, was confirmed by another study published in the journal, Annals of
the Rheumatic Diseases, on April 5, 2007. This proves the point that over-the-counter drugs can be lethal
in the stomach of an unsuspecting patient. In fact, because of complications, some 56,000 users of OTCs
in the United States end up in the emergency room every year. Just because some 5 billion over-the-
counter medications are sold in the United States annually,does not mean you should believe they are
safe.
Take for example, acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol. Besides causing cardiovascular problems,
Tylenol is actually the most common cause of liver failure, not hepatitis C, as you might believe. Tylenol
3, which is given to women for postnatal pain, can produce deadly concentrations of morphine in their
breast milk. A lawsuit over the death of Toronto newborn Tariq Jamieson, who died as a result of opiate
toxicity in his mother's breast milk, is shedding new light on the dangers of prescribing such drugs as
Tylenol 3 to breastfeeding mothers. Tariq died after 11 days of breastfeeding, according to National
Review of Medicine, June 15, 2007. He was found to have high blood levels of acetaminophen and a
blood concentration of morphine 6 times higher than is considered safe in a neonate. Tylenol 3 contains