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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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More or Less: Why medical error is not the third leading cause of death in the US

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Why medical error is not the third leading cause of death in the US

08/06/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - More or Less, Why medical error is not the third leading cause of death in the US

Investigating how many deaths are caused by mistakes by doctors and nurses

Investigating how many deaths are caused by mistakes by doctors and nurses in the US.

The claim that medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US has been zooming around the internet for years. 

This would mean that only heart disease and cancer killed more people than the very people trying to treat these diseases. 

But there are good reasons to be suspicious about the claim.

Professor Mary Dixon-Woods, director of The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute, or THIS Institute, at Cambridge University, explains what’s going on.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production coordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Nigel Appleton 
Editor: Richard Vadon

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