Divine Amnesia

Divine Amnesia


Why doctors are more dangerous than guns

May 09, 2015

 

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A popular message circulating the internet claims that "guns don't kill people, doctors do," based on statistics that theoretically show that doctors are responsible for more accidental deaths every year than firearms. Independent research by NaturalNews staff shows that this claim is based on a logical fallacy of comparing apples and oranges, but according to the hard statistics, doctors do indeed kill more people than guns.

The message, which sometimes says that doctors kill more people than guns and traffic accidents combined, has been circulating the internet for years. Like many urban legends that cross the internet, it has a lot of "facts" for its readers, but it is unlike most urban legends in that it quotes a source: "Statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services." The message was even recounted in an article by Nathan Tabor. The letter claims that:

-- There are 700,000 physicians in the United States.
-- There are 120,000 accidental deaths in the United States caused by physicians every year, and the accidental death percentage per physician is 0.171.
-- There are 80 million gun owners in the United States.
-- There are 1,500 accidental deaths from guns every year, regardless of age group, and the accidental death percentage per gun owner is 0.0000188.

This means, the letter points out, that doctors are 9,000 times more deadly than gun owners.