Death by Medicine: Where's the Outrage?
An editorial in the Nov. 11, 2010 issue of USA Today drew a sobering metaphor to the number of patients who die on an average day from medical "adverse events." Citing a recent survey from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services, the op/ed piece pondered our fairly blasé reaction to the estimated 180,000 patients who die every year from those "events." That's right: 180,000 deaths per year, 493 deaths per day, 20 deaths an hour.
But then I started thinking about it from the other direction. What public outcries and news stories are in fact making headlines and creating awareness, fear and manufactured outrage with obviously significantly fewer reported deaths?
The fact remains that the current available evidence at best supports a chance association between chiropractic manipulation and stroke. Yet the attention from the media and certain other targeted groups such as the Victims of Chiropractic Abuse (VOCA) and Neck 911 continues to be disproportionate to what the statistics support.
Dr. Sportelli has authored numerous articles for respected publications and writes a regular column for Dynamic Chiropractic entitled "In the Court of Public Opinion." Dr. Sportelli has co-authored several books, including Opportunities in Chiropractic Health Care Careers; Medical-Legal Issues in Chiropractic; and The Chiropractic Form & Sample Letter Book. Dr. Sportelli's patient education booklet, Introduction to Chiropractic, written in 1976 and now in its ninth printing, is used throughout the world to better inform the public of the benefits of chiropractic.
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