You medical people will have more lives to answer for in the other world than even we generals. - Napoleon Bonaparte

In a recent emailed response to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Ron Law, Executive Director of the NNFA, in New Zealand and member of the New Zealand Ministry of Health Working Group advising on medical error, offered some enlightening information on deaths caused by drugs and medical errors.

He notes the prevalence of deaths from medical errors and also from properly researched and prescribed medications in Australia and New Zealand, which serves as a reminder to us that the US is not alone in having this problem.

He cites the following statistics and facts:

• Official Australian government reports reveal that preventable
  medical error in hospitals is responsible for 11% of all deaths in Australia.(1, 2), which is about 1 of every 9 deaths.
  

• If deaths from properly researched, properly registered, properly prescribed and properly used drugs were added along with preventable deaths due to private practice it comes to a staggering 19%, which is almost 1 of every 5 deaths.

• New Zealand figures are very similar.

According to Mr. Law:

Put another way, the equivalent of New Zealand's second largest city (Christchurch) has been killed by preventable medical error and deaths from properly researched, properly registered, properly prescribed and properly used drugs in Australasia in the past decade and its biggest city Auckland either killed or permanently maimed. 

Put another way, more than 5 milion people have been killed by Western medical practice in the past decade (Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, and NZ) and 20 million killed or permanently maimed. Sounds like a war zone, doesn't it?

Put another way, the economic impact of deaths due to preventable medical error and deaths from properly researched, properly registered, properly prescribed and properly used drugs is approximately $1 trillion over the past decade.

He notes that only 0.3% of these deaths are properly coded and classified in official statistics as being attributed to these causes.

British Medical Journal November 11, 2000; 321: 1178A (emailed response)

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

It is obvious that the US is not the only place where the conventional drug-based paradigm is killing people. This is a world-wide phenomena and occurs because of people becoming so enamored of modern medicine that they lose touch with the god-given healing abilities that they all have. Related Articles: Blunders By Doctors Kill 40,000 people a Year In Britain Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US Medical Mistakes Kill 100,000 Americans A Year Prescription Errors Common In Outpatient Setting Why Doctors Are 9,000 Times More Likely to Accidentally Kill You Than Gun Owners References: Iatrogenic Injury in Australia - This is the executive summary of a 150 page official report revealing 14,000 preventable medical error deaths (only in hospitals - not private practice). (Full report on file). Australian Bureau of Statistics - Australian 1994 total deaths (1994) = 126,692