By Wu Yan

(Clearwisdom.net) On July 28, 2004, Reuters reported a study by HealthGrades, Inc., indicating that as many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in U.S. hospitals because of preventable errors. This number doubles previous figures from a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine that said 98,000 people a year die from medical errors. Compared to various diseases, medical errors would be the sixth leading cause of death. I am not a medical professional, and to avoid quoting out of context, I attach below the original article in English for interested readers to read in detail.

Today I also read a report by the Central News Agency on August 5, which said that the Xin Tan Health Development Research Center, a subsidiary of China's Ministry of Public Health, pointed out that 390,000 Chinese have died earlier due to hepatitis and AIDS contracted through unsafe injections.

This reminds me of the so-called "1400 deaths" promulgated by Jiang's regime during the suppression of Falun Gong in 1999. Those cases have been proven as an attempt to frame Falun Gong, as many of the deaths had nothing to do with practicing Falun Gong. In addition, there are a huge number of people practicing Falun Gong in China. Even according to the Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece media, which dramatically underestimated the number, there were two million practitioners. It is well known that many who practice various kinds of Qigong are the old and the ill. At least at the beginning of their practice, their purpose was to keep fit or to treat illnesses. Therefore, even if all the 1400 cases were real (which means 200 deaths a year), the death rate is only one ten thousandth, which is much lower than the normal death rate of the Chinese people.

When Jiang's regime and those so-called "anti-pseudoscience" fighters criticize and denounce Falun Gong, they usually bring up the fabricated "1400 deaths" under the pretence of being "responsible for the life of the people" and "science." According to their "logic," since U.S. hospitals cause about 195,000 deaths each year, these hospitals should all be banned from practice. In China's hospitals, there are about 390,000 deaths caused by unsafe injections alone, and hence the hospitals should definitely be closed, exposed, and criticized.

Falun Gong's profound effect on health improvement and healing can be found in one of the Clearwisdom booklets, "A Journey to Ultimate Health." It recorded many cases where through practicing Falun Gong, people were cured of deadly illnesses. The book can be viewed on-line at http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/download/publications/health_index.html

Had there not been five years of unreasonable persecution of Falun Gong in China, no one knows how many more people would have attained the ultimate health, and avoided having their lives taken away by illnesses. Before criticizing Falun Gong under the pretence of science, they should at least conduct a survey of practitioners, and compare the effects on health between Falun Gong and hospitals.

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Appendix: Reuter's Original Report on July 28, 2004

Study: Hospital errors cause 195,000 deaths

Report doubles earlier Institute of Medicine estimate

Wednesday, July 28, 2004 Posted: 10:08 AM EDT (1408 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- As many as 195,000 people a year could be dying in U.S. hospitals because of easily prevented errors, a company said Tuesday in an estimate that doubles previous figures.

Lakewood, Colorado-based HealthGrades, Inc. said its data covers all 50 states and is more up-to-date than a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine that said 98,000 people a year die from medical errors.

"The HealthGrades study shows that the IOM report may have underestimated the number of deaths due to medical errors, and, moreover, that there is little evidence that patient safety has improved in the last five years," said Dr. Samantha Collier, vice president of medical affairs at the company.

The company, which rates hospitals based on a variety of criteria and provides information to insurers and health plans, said its researchers looked at three years of Medicare data in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

"This Medicare population represented approximately 45 percent of all hospital admissions (excluding obstetric patients) in the U.S. from 2000 to 2002," the company said in a statement.

HealthGrades included as mistakes failure to rescue dying patients and the death of low-risk patients from infections -- neither of which the Institute of Medicine report included.

It said it found about 1.14 million "patient-safety incidents" occurred among the 37 million hospitalizations.

"Of the total 323,993 deaths among Medicare patients in those years who developed one or more patient-safety incidents, 263,864, or 81 percent, of these deaths were directly attributable to the incidents," it added.

"One in every four Medicare patients who were hospitalized from 2000 to 2002 and experienced a patient-safety incident died."

The U.S. government said it is trying to spearhead a move to get hospitals and clinics to use electronic databases and prescribing methods. The Institute of Medicine report said many deaths were due to medication prescribing errors or to errors in delivering medications.

"If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual list of leading causes of death included medical errors, it would show up as number six, ahead of diabetes, pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease and renal disease," Collier said.

August 5, 2004

Posting date: 8/22/2004
Original article date: 8/21/2004
Category: Open Forum
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/6/81145.html

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