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Why medical error is not the third leading cause of death in the US

Investigating how many deaths are caused by mistakes by doctors and nurses in the US.

The claim that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US has been zooming around the internet for years.

This would mean that only heart disease and cancer killed more people than the very people trying to treat these diseases.

But there are good reasons to be suspicious about the claim.

Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, director of The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute, or THIS Institute, at Cambridge University, explains what’s going on.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton
Editor: Richard Vadon

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9 minutes

Last on

Sun 9 Jun 2024 23:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 8 Jun 2024 04:50GMT
  • Sat 8 Jun 2024 10:50GMT
  • Sat 8 Jun 2024 15:50GMT
  • Sun 9 Jun 2024 08:50GMT
  • Sun 9 Jun 2024 10:50GMT
  • Sun 9 Jun 2024 22:50GMT
  • Sun 9 Jun 2024 23:50GMT

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