This is a glaring example of why health care in the United States is in such a mess. If you haven't already read the outstanding comprehensive review that Gary Null did a few years ago, I would highly encourage you to read it.

Last fall, we ran an article about a dubious category where America leads the rest of the world by far: medical errors. And it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon.

Although doctors are required to mark the spot on a patient's body where the medical procedure is being performed before surgery, and nurses are also expected to check up on a doctor's "marks," many ignore the precautions.

Why?

According to one expert, there's simply no incentive for hospitals and doctors to practice safer medicine; on the contrary, hospitals want medical staffers to shuttle patients through procedures more quickly.

That rush-everyone-through attitude may explain other problems, such as why deaths from prescription drugs skyrocket at the start of each month, when the pharmacy workload is highest.

Reports like these reflect the state of conventional health care throughout the world, and why there is such a desperate need to change it.

The first thing you can actively do here is to avoid unnecessary surgeries. The vast majority of the surgeries done in the United States are quite simply not needed. I listed some of the easily avoidable ones in an earlier article.