On 10/2/08, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86(a)comcast.net> wrote:
To be clear. To "hurt" someone is to cause
them pain. In medicine, for one,
there can be pain associated with the treatment, and with the healing. To
"harm" someone, however, is to cause them unnecessary and irrevocable
damage.
[[Iatrogenesis]] is the ten-dollar word for this (of which medacaid
will pay a buck-fifty on a good day).
In medical record-keeping jargon, doctor fuck-ups are referred to as
an "adverse event", that is, if they are reported at all. Annually (as
of 2000) the FDA estimates 44,000 to 98,000 deaths from medical error
in the U.S.[1] and the British Medical Journal estimates 1,000,000
injuries[2].
That's right, doctors kill more people than cars, guns, drugs, and STDs.
Of course W's immediate response was "Gee, let's limit the maximum
awardable money for medical malpractice suits..." My conclusion is
that unless you're about to die anyway, you might be better off not
going to a doctor.
Back on topic, while the "do no harm" slogan may have significant
merit at face value, I worry that the disturbingly ironic medical
undertones make it difficult for the average user to take seriously.
In the end, this nutshell-ism might do us more harm than good.
—C.W.
[1]
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2000/500_err.html
[2]
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1117772