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What's wrong with U.S?? (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by [deleted]

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[–]Arcwulf 1 point2 points ago

I wonder what the population difference is too.

Its all fine and happy to say that 100 people in a group of 10,000 died, and then to say how much more horrible it is that 1000 people died in a group of 100,000.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 1 point2 points ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

To weed out suicides, sort by "homicides".

[–]keraneuology 1 point2 points ago

You are 9,000 times more likely to die from a doctor's error than to die from a firearm.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

Source?

[–]keraneuology 0 points1 point ago

Here is an article from 2000 - the original JAMA article was quite comprehensive and is a good reference point. There may be updated figures today but I couldn't find them within 20 seconds at o dark thirty so this is good enough. Note that the non-error adverse drug reactions are not included in the comparison (but is almost as high as the direct error which includes hospital-spread infections, most of which are preventable - consider the recent case where a heart surgeon wasn't washing his hands correctly so he was introducing some nasty infections directly into the chest cavity.)

(There's another reference to a similar number here and don't forget to watch the TED talk about doctor error)

Lots of other people have done the math:

  • The number of physicians in the US is 700,000
  • Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year is 120,000

  • Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 (US Dept of Health & Human Services).

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

  • The number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) is 1,500.

  • The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .0000188.

Now those statistics are per capita. Your overall odds of dying in a hospital from doctor error are reported by the WHO at 1:300, while the odds of being murdered by any means (many instances of which do not involve firearms but I'm too lazy to dig up the exact numbers right now) is 15,000 out of 300,000,000 or 1 in 20,000

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

1 in 300 is a global number. What's the risk in the US alone? And other than a chain letter that has been circulating the internet (and gun-lover forums) for a decade, where did you get those numbers? Are "preventable deaths" the same as "deaths caused by physicians"? I'd say no.

[–]keraneuology 0 points1 point ago

Figure 300,000,000 population in the US. The AMA and the Institute of Medicine both put the rate of death from preventable medical mistakes in 1999/2000 in the 100,000-120,000 range (see links above). So that would mean around a 1:3000 risk of death due to preventable medical mistakes (I'm going with the lower number). In 2007 there were about 32,000 firearm related deaths (wikipedia, which cites somebody else) so firearm deaths equal anywhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the number of preventable medical mistakes. Going with the 300,000,000 number for US population again 32,000 firearm deaths = 1:9400.

Now those firearm deaths include all shootings, the majority of which are drug related - correct for the risk factors (prior felony convictions, involvement in drug trafficking) and the average citizen is far less likely to be shot than even the first look numbers suggest.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

And the WHO is actively trying to lower that number. What are gun owners doing?

[–]keraneuology 0 points1 point ago

Encouraging responsible ownership and use.

Guns lower crime and save lives. Why do you have a problem with this?

[–]shmoove_cwiminal -1 points0 points ago

That is comical. So, the answer to gun violence in the US is more guns. Lol.

[–]Arcwulf 0 points1 point ago

Thats better. Twice that of canada, but canadians are too busy riding mooses and building igloos to kill each other.

I can accept those figures.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

Actually, almost 4 times Canada.

EDIT: Just noticed Canadian stats quoted in Wikipedia article are from 1992. I'd wager they're much lower now. Current figures are closer to a third of that number.

[–]Arcwulf 0 points1 point ago

Well.. in that case, it sounds like none of these figures is accurate anyway, so i guess they're rather pointless as is.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

Check the dates. Some are current.

[–]Arcwulf 0 points1 point ago

some are.. thats hardly compelling,and frankly, i question the validity of these so-called figures.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

Do your own research then. The info is available. It's better than burying your head in the sand and pretending there's no problem.

[–]Arcwulf 0 points1 point ago

oh, im not denying theres gun violence. Im saying i can accept the levels of such violence. Its certainly not an epidemic, and besides, i own my own weapon, so i am prepared in case someone wants to end me. You should probs get your own and train with it. Youd be less scared all the time.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

Scared. Lol. I deal with criminals for a living and have been around plenty of sketchy dudes and I've never felt the need to go out and get a gun. I suppose if I was so scared, I'd probably get one. Like you.

[–]shmoove_cwiminal 0 points1 point ago

Downvote for 22-year-old graphic. Stop the spread of useless shit.

[–]cionide 0 points1 point ago

I didn't know germany was still split