Doctors trained in China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Syria are better doctors than US-trained doctors.
The posey (and dangerous) belief that US doctors are the best trained in the world is a myth. As an outsider myself, I have never seen so much incompetent blundering on any scale, as here. I’d far rather go to India to have my appendix out or have a gallstone removed than do it in this country.
So MANY people die here of medical incompetence. It doesn’t show up nearly enough, because the patient is listed as dying of the disease, instead of killed by the doctor. It’s right to ask: are American doctors among the most incompetent in the world?
There is good reason to think so. First, July 26, 2000, Journal of the American Medical Association; author, Dr. Barbara Starfield, revered public health expert at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, wrote an article “Is US health really the best in the world?”
Starfield reported that the US medical system kills 225,000 Americans a year. 106,000 as a result of FDA-approved medical drugs, and 119,000 as a result of mistreatment and errors in hospitals. Extrapolate the numbers to a decade: that’s 2.25 million deaths. You might want to read that last number again.
Incredibly, 106,000 deaths per annum were caused by the CORRECT medicine, CORRECTLY prescribed, according to BEST PRACTICE!1
Here is another citation: Author, Jeanne Lenzer refers to a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices: “It calculated that in 2011 prescription drugs were associated with two to four million people in the US experiencing ‘serious, disabling, or fatal injuries, including 128,000 deaths.'”
The report called this “one of the most significant perils to humans resulting from human activity.”2
The report was compiled by outside researchers who went into the FDA’s own database of “serious adverse events.”
Therefore, to say the FDA isn’t aware of this finding would be absurd. The FDA knows. The FDA knows and it isn’t saying anything about it, because the FDA certifies, as safe and effective, all the medical drugs that are routinely maiming and killing Americans.
By the last count, independent studies suggest that between 200,000 and 400,000 people die each year in the United States from preventable medical mistakes. That doesn’t even count the millions maimed and injured.
And lately, a significant article published in the BMJ has shown convincingly that 1 in 250 patients die here when treated by US-trained doctors.
Medicare patients admitted to the hospital and treated by internists who graduated from medical schools outside the United States had lower 30-day mortality than matched patients cared for by graduates of US schools, according to results of a study published online in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).3
But that’s just the background. How about indescribably stupid blunders that literally kill people? There was a case in court recently in which a doctor was being sued, because he had removed a man’s liver BY MISTAKE. It’s mind boggling that a professionally qualified and trained surgeon could remove a liver by mistake. He thought it was the spleen, which is what he was supposed to remove.
Trouble is, though you can live for years without your spleen, you can’t live more than a few days without a liver. The patient died.
I’m reminded of an old doctor’s gag: “the operation was a great success but the patient died.”
Wrong Side
Removing a limb or organ from the wrong side of the body is not rare—but inexcusable.
An Air Force veteran went for treatment for possible cancer of one testicle. When Benjamin Houghton went into surgery to remove his diseased left testicle at West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, the surgeons mistakenly removed the right, healthy testicle instead.
The medical mistake was traced back to the patient’s medical record where the surgeon failed to mark the correct side before undertaking the operation. Mr. Houghton and his wife brought a medical malpractice case against the VA Medical Center for $200,000.
In 2007 neurosurgeons at Rhode Island Hospital made not one, but three catastrophic medical mistakes by performing wrong site surgeries on three different patients’ heads.
Two of the mistakes were caught early enough to close the initial holes and treat the correct side, but the other surgery killed an 86-year-old patient. Believe it or not the surgeon who made these mistakes had his medical license suspended for only two months. So much for doctors policing themselves.4
Only a few days ago, I was reading about a baby who was decapitated at birth, because of extremely rough handling (read: ridiculously excessive force). The baby had become jammed, making it a very difficult delivery (or impossible for a clod of an ObGyn). Why didn’t he elect for an emergency caesarian? As a result of the delay the baby died but to rip its head off, taking delivery? Makes you shudder.
In February 2024, the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the baby’s death a homicide caused by “actions of another person,” stating the death resulted from a fracture of cervical vertebrae in the spine.
The parent’s attorney, Dr. Roderick Edmond expressed the gravity of the situation, stating, ” Every aspect of the evidence that shows what happened is traumatizing, something I’ve never seen in my life.”5
The poor family were, of course, very upset. But they were even more traumatized when some pathologist MD posted pictures of their child’ autopsy on social media, without the parent’s consent, showing the decapitated corpse… I mean?
His excuse? A clause in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that allows physicians to inform the public when there are safety concerns in health care. His justification cannot be supported.
Just a Mistake?
You might find yourself being sympathetic. No matter how terrible a blunder, it could have just been a mistake, surely?
Well, how about this case: a surgeon deliberately took a screwdriver and stitched it into a patient’s spine!
Surgeon Robert Ricketson was to operate on a patient’s spine but couldn’t find the titanium rods he intended to use. So instead of canceling the procedure, he sawed off a screwdriver handle and put that to use instead.
No surprise: within a few days the screwdriver makeshift rod broke, resulting in agony for the patient.
Robert Ricketson, sued for his actions, said he had no choice but to implant the screwdriver into the back of Arturo Iturralde, then 73. He said he did not have the titanium rods needed to complete the operation properly. A nurse who was present knew full well this was criminal doctoring and retrieved the screwdriver parts and sent them to a lawyer, so the truth quicky came to light.
It emerged this grossly incompetent surgeon had already had his medical license suspended in Oklahoma and revoked in Texas, following a string of malpractice lawsuits and treatment for a narcotics addiction. He had also admitted to writing fake prescriptions to obtain drugs.
In 2017, a 49-year-old man was injured in a motor vehicle accident. The surgeon failed to conduct standard tests (like an angiogram), neglecting to check for arterial blockages. This led to inadequate blood flow post-op and the negligence ultimately required an above-the-knee amputation.
In 2024 a jury awarded $10.2 million in damages.6
In 1995 patient Willie King was subjected to a wrong-limb amputation. He was scheduled to have his right foot removed, instead his left leg was taken away. The surgeon was Dr. Rolando Sanchez. During the surgery, Dr. Sanchez realized too late that he was operating on the wrong leg but the operation had already progressed past the point of reversal. In this case it was even more tragic because Dr. Sanchez believed he was removing the correct limb, the left leg had been fully prepped ready, before he even entered the OR.7
All this violates to first principle of medicine, which is FIRST DO NO HARM.
Finally, A Great Tragedy
In June 1997 singer Julie Andrews underwent an operation on her vocal cords at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital. As we all know, the surgical procedure left her unable to sing. Her beautiful, crystal clear 4-octave voice was ruined and even her speaking voice turned harsh and rasping.
In December 1999, Andrews filed a lawsuit against her doctors and Mount Sinai. It claimed she had not been told of the risks of the surgery and that the results “ruined her ability to sing and precluded her from practicing her profession as a musical performer.” There had been “no reason to perform surgery of any kind.” A statement from Andrews also noted, “Singing has been a cherished gift, and my inability to sing has been a devastating blow.”8
A confidential settlement was reached the next year. But no amount of money could replace that voice.
It only remains to say that the majority of doctors are not so incompetent. And to reiterate my earnest advice to all: IF YOU WANT TO STAY HEALTHY AND LIVE LONG, KEEP AWAY FROM DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS!
OK, a quirky one this week from me. But while others go banging on about the health benefits of herb teas and “reasons to take vitamin D, part seventeen”, I sometimes cast a wider net, as you all know!
To your health,
Prof. Keith Scott-Mumby
The Official Alternative Doctor
References:
- Starfield, B.(2000, July 26). Is US health really the best in the world?JAMA, 284(4), 483–485. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.284.4.483
- BMJ June 7, 2012 (BMJ 2012:344:e3989
- BMJ 2017;356:j273
- https://leightonlaw.com/12-famous-medical-malpractice-cases/
- https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/father-speaks-out-after-babys-decapitation-death-in-clayton-county-ruled-homicide
- https://www.wsorlaw.com/chicago-personal-injury-lawyers/10-2-million-verdict-for-illinois-negligent-amputation
- https://blog.thinkreliability.com/blame-solves-nothing-revisiting-the-willie-king-wrong-site-amputation
- https://www.biography.com/actors/julie-andrews-vocal-cord-surgery-lost-voice
