Natural medicine has come under attack as pharmaceutical company lobbyists push lawmakers to deprive Americans of the benefits of dietary supplements. Drug-front groups have implemented slanderous campaigns in attempts to undermine the value of natural health lifestyles.

These attacks to natural medicine prompted an independent review of government-approved medicine, which revealed that conventional medicine was the leading cause of death in the United States. This review of government health statistics showed that in most cases, American medicine does more harm than good. Compelling evidence from this study unveiled astounding statistics on the 783,936 deaths per year that have resulted from conventional medicine.

The purpose of this article was to memorialize the failure of the American medical system by exposing the horrifying statistics of the inadequacies of today’s health care system with the goal of beginning some meaningful reform.

Highlights from the findings in the review:

• U.S. health care spending has reached $1.6 trillion in 2003, which represents 14 percent of the nation’s gross national product.

• In a 1992 survey, a national pharmacy database found a total of 429,827 medication errors from 1,081 hospitals.

• In 1974, 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries were performed that resulted in 11,900 deaths compared to the year 2001, where 7.5 million unnecessary surgeries were performed resulting in 37,136 deaths.

• A 1998 study reported an estimated 106,000 deaths from prescription medications per year.

• Nearly 9 million people were unnecessarily hospitalized in 2001.

Here are additional reasons why the traditional paradigm is flawed:

• Studies have found that the 41 million Americans without health insurance have an increased risk for dying prematurely and not receiving appropriate medical care.

• 20 percent of all causes of death occur in nursing homes.

• More than 30 percent of nursing homes in the United States were cited for abuses, exceeding over 9,000 violations.

• A study of a 100-bed sub-acute care hospital revealed that only 8 percent of the patients were well nourished, 29 percent were malnourished and 63 percent were at risk of malnutrition.

Life Extension Institute March 2004

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

This definitive review of the conventional health care system is a must-read because it describes in detail the failure of the traditional paradigm and provides us with shocking statistics on the thousands and thousands of deaths that resulted from unnecessary or incorrect medical treatments. The only problem I have with this article is that the formatting is really terrible and makes it difficult to follow. The Web site uses a type of frame and you need to use the light blue bar on the immediate right of the text to scroll down and reach the next page. However, despite the formatting issue, I highly recommend reading this article. This article acts as yet another huge wake-up call by providing further substantial evidence that the health care system is in desperate need of drastic reform. Too many lives are being lost at the hands of conventional medicine. The findings in this review also further reinforce my vision and passion, which is to transform the medicine and surgery-bombarded medical paradigm to one that focuses on treatment and prevention of the underlying causes. I view this review as a very positive step toward fulfilling my vision because it specifically outlines the blatant mistakes and failures of the traditional system. The statistics from this review gives people even more reasons to explore alternative and less evasive approaches to health care--such as educating yourself with the information in my Total Health Program--to find out what is truly going on. The increasing number of people visiting my Web site have access to a constantly expanding database that they can use as a tool to educate themselves on how to facilitate their own healing. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to look at my site and subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter, but most of all join me in my quest to transform the medical paradigm to one that is sincerely dedicated to listening to the patients’ concerns and expressing commitment to their health and well-being at the deepest levels. Related Articles: British Journal Finds "One in Ten Harmed in Hospital" Blunders By Doctors Kill 40,000 people a Year In Britain Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Causing 250,000 Deaths Every Year Medical Mistakes Kill 100,000 Americans A Year Deaths in England Due to Medical Errors up 500% Death by Medicine, Part I