JAMA (2000)
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•N ADVERSE EFFECTS N
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•106,000 inpatient deaths
•199,000 outpatient deaths
•----------------------------------
•305,000 deaths from Rx
Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., and University Distinguished Service Professor with appointments in the Department of Health Policy and Management and Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Public Health and Medicine Scan_Pic0093
The following year, the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (aka, JAMA) featured an article by Johns Hopkins University professor, Dr. Barbara Starfield.   The article expanded upon the Institute of Medicine’s theme of iatrogenic (treatment-related) death.

Using data culled from a variety of inpatient and outpatient investigations,     Starfield’s analysis estimated that adverse effects of medication (i.e., “therapeutic” doses of prescription drugs taken exactly as prescribed) account for approximately 305,000 deaths per year.

   106,000 inpatient deaths due to pharmaceuticals
   199,000 outpatient deaths due to pharmaceuticals



[Note:  Given the fact that “adverse drug reactions” are rarely reported, and given the fact that drug-related heart attacks, strokes, pneumonias, and cancers are seldom attributed by physicians or governmental agencies to pharmaceuticals, these estimates were absurdly conservative.]