A lot of people out there have their own various reasons for wanting to scare you away

from American health care. And one of their favorite statistics is that medical errors are

the third leading cause of death in the United States.

It's both shocking and terrifying.

But is it true?

Well, it might be a good time to remember that the more sensational a headline,

the less likely you'll find any truth behind it.

That's what we're talking about right now, on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Medical error is not the third leading cause of death.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from

pseudoscience, real history from fake history,

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by knowing what's real and what's not.

It's one of the internet's favorite perennial false claims, and it's so persistent that it remains

today a current political talking point. It concerns medical errors which are

things like patients being given drugs they're allergic to, bed sores resulting

in infection, health care acquired infections, failure to spot things like sepsis, and misdiagnoses or wrong treatments or failure to follow treatment

plans.

The claim that medical errors like these are the third leading cause of death in the United

States is one that you can find plastered are the third leading cause of death in the United States

is one that you can find plaster just about anywhere you look for it,

...