Guns vs. Doctors

[Rodchester]

Guns vs. Doctors - A Thought Provoking Statistic

 

Think about this:

 

A. The number of physicians in the US is 700,000.

B. Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year is 120,000.

C. Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.

(US Dept. of Health &Human Services)

 

Then think about this:

 

A. The number of gun owners in the US is 80,000,000.

B. The number of accidental gun deaths per year is 1,500.

C. The number of accidental deaths per gun owner 0.0000188

 

Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

 

FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.

 

Please alert your friends to this alarming threat.

 

We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand.

 

As a public health measure, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear that the shock could cause people to seek medical attention.

 

OK, Ok , OK...I got this in some e-mail. I have not "fact" checked it. I think it is tongue and cheek and view it as such.

 

[sk]

[EWolfe]

People have got to quit going to doctors like this:

 

I know this from personal experience, you will recognize MrE withthis staff of medical professionals :

[scott_harpell]

Canadian Doctor's Take On It

[stinkyclimber]

Canadian Doctor's Take On It

This would more accurately be referred to as, "Alberta Gun-advocate's Take On It". The fact that he is a doctor seems kind of irrelevant since he is using publicly available research to make his case. He is not a researcher, and does not claim to have extensively researched this issue.

 

Alberta is generally pro-gun, and also a very very safe province - there is little crime, with or without guns, so extrapolating the stats he is talking about to the rest of Canada, much less the US, is a bit misleading.

 

 

Rod's numbers cunningly quoted just accidental gun deaths. What about intentional gun deaths (murder and suicide)? Then compare that number with the # of intentional deaths caused by doctors (murder and assisted suicide).

[MrDoolittle]

"Doctor? Doctors are idiots."

[scott_harpell]

Canadian Doctor's Take On It

This would more accurately be referred to as, "Alberta Gun-advocate's Take On It". The fact that he is a doctor seems kind of irrelevant since he is using publicly available research to make his case. He is not a researcher, and does not claim to have extensively researched this issue.

 

Alberta is generally pro-gun, and also a very very safe province - there is little crime, with or without guns, so extrapolating the stats he is talking about to the rest of Canada, much less the US, is a bit misleading.

 

 

Rod's numbers cunningly quoted just accidental gun deaths. What about intentional gun deaths (murder and suicide)? Then compare that number with the # of intentional deaths caused by doctors (murder and assisted suicide).

 

Hey Hommie... didya read the whole thing?

17 homicides involving firearms

56 total homicides

[Alpinfox]

People have got to quit going to doctors like this:

 

Hey Mr.E,

Is that Patch? I've never seen a real pic of him.

[EWolfe]

Yep, the crazy bluehair himself

 

 

"Young Doctors In Love" is hilarious.

[stinkyclimber]

Hey Hommie... didya read the whole thing?

17 homicides involving firearms

56 total homicides

Yo hommie...ya, I did. But I was referring to Rod's stats at the top of the thread. The 17 homicides stats is for Alberta, which as I suggested, is a VERY safe province and not appropriate for extrapolation to the rest of the continent.

[scott_harpell]

and also a province which has more guns than any other province... go figure...

[stinkyclimber]

That are all used for hunting. Which is what most guns in Canada are owned for.

 

Sorry, I still don't see how these stats are at all related to the US where there is significantly higher gun ownership and astronomically higher gun mortality.

 

As I said, I was interested in seeing Rod's stats more objectively disclosed, which would include comparing intentional deaths due to doctors and guns (much like the Alberta guy did, but I think the US stats would look MUCH different). Of course, since the whole analogy is quite silly (that guns are safer than doctors), it would be fairest to then include the # of lives SAVED by doctors and guns!

 

Anyway, I am aware that discussing gun rights on this board, and with yanks in general is a fools errand, so whatever...

 

It's been a slice.

Edited April 1, 2004 by stinkyclimber

[Dru]

That are all used for hunting.

 

Actually a lot of them are used for randomly firing while driving through Wiebo Ludwig's front yard or whatever

[scott_harpell]

That are all used for hunting.

 

Actually a lot of them are used for randomly firing while driving through Wiebo Ludwig's front yard or whatever

 

so true. I love Alberta though. Nice people and a hell of an outdoor paradise province...

[Off_White]

Rod's numbers cunningly quoted just accidental gun deaths. What about intentional gun deaths (murder and suicide)? Then compare that number with the # of intentional deaths caused by doctors (murder and assisted suicide).

 

The Center For Disease Control reports that in 2001 there were actually 2402 accidental gun deaths and 32,977 gun homicides (which does not include suicide, self-defense, or law enforcement). If you lump all gun related violence together you get 83,923. They also report 8,139 deaths due to adverse medical care, not 120,00. It's kind of a fascinating searchable database, and of course gun injuries is only part of it. Link

[Peter_Puget]

OW -

 

I have no idea about 120,00 deaths but I'd bet the rest of this year's paychecks that the 8K on the CDC is less than the real numbers of deaths caused by poor medical care by physicians. For example at lunch I was reading this which included the remarkable statistic that 10% of people who get bypass surgery don't have any clinical conditions for which that seems like an appropriate therapy.

[stinkyclimber]

I think the most interesting stat from the CDC is that 8 people died of "overexertion" in 2001. Warning: excerise is dangerous. (cool site, by the way - thanks for the link)

 

I would tend to agree that 8000 sounds low. Of course, again, whether it is 8K or 120K, it would also be useful to see how many lives are SAVED by the standard of medical care in North America. One only need pick a country which has a weaker medical care system and look at their stats, and I am guessing that their avg life span is shorter, AND ALSO that fewer people are accidently killed by doctors.

 

The more doctors you have, and the more medical care a population "consumes" the more death-by-doctor will occur, no? However, on the flipside, you will probably live longer, on average. Trade off...longer life, but more likely of being accidently killed by a doctor's fuck up.

 

Guns, on the other hand, may not have the same relationship. The more guns you have, the more deaths you will get. Duh. But again, does it hold true, as it does with doctors, that the more guns you have, the safer/healthier you will be?

 

Gun nuts, over to you...