Thread: guns and doctors

The "other thread" made me think of this text that I saw on a doctor's blog. <- The link is just for reference, the text is pasted below. Might be an old study since the number of gun owners seems a bit low.

Doctors
(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000.
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000..
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 (17%).
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.

Now think about this:
Guns
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that's 80 million !)
(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .0000188 (.00188%)
Statistics courtesy of the F.B.I.
So, statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.
Remember, 'Guns don't kill people, doctors do.'
FACT: NOT EVERYONE HAS A GUN, BUT ALMOST EVERYONE HAS AT LEAST ONE DOCTOR.
Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets completely out of hand!!!!!

P.S. - Out of concern for the public at large, I have withheld the statistics on lawyers for fear the shock would cause people to panic and seek medical attention.

Kinda scary if you think about your Dr. too much...

Sticky

You made my morning.

Bob

Sticky --
I would think that those stats would be comparable today, even if the study's conclusions are 30 years old. There are many gun owners who handle their weapons only once per year (hunting season or whatnot), and there must be some who probably don't even do that. Those individuals are the outliers, but they do exist.
In contrast, how many "family physicians" or general practitioners actually cause death? After all, one of their functions -- and perhaps their main one -- is to provide referrals to specialists. Once that is done, it is my understanding that their hands are clean.

*Gets Out Chalk Board*

Doctors cause 120k deaths a year. Doctors are part of the health care system. Obamacare declared constitutional. Obama kills 120k people a year.

*Takes off glasses and smiles smugly at the camera*

Obama is the CEO of this country. So he is the captain of the Ship and the captain is responsible for everything that happens on his command. So just think how many bad things he is responsible for and how many deaths are on his hands.

There are good and bad people in every profession, but you have to hope that you have a good Doctor.

Once I was going in for a small procedure and talking and joking with the Dr that I knew quite well. He got the syringe ready to knock me out and then asked me "Hey do you know what you call the guy that graduated at the bottom of his class in medical school?" No, I said. "Doctor" he replied, smiled and put me right under!

Thankfully he was one of the good ones.

Will N.

Maybe we need more "Doctor Control" laws.........

Originally Posted by honedright

Maybe we need more "Doctor Control" laws.........

It's funny you should write that. Here in MI there is pending legislation regarding decreasing doctor's culpability regarding medical malpractice lawsuits. WEIRD!

Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

It's funny you should write that. Here in MI there is pending legislation regarding decreasing doctor's culpability regarding medical malpractice lawsuits. WEIRD!

Even weirder that an inanimate object like a gun get's most, if not all, of the blame while, as you point out, a thinking, breathing, decision making individual could be responsible for less.

This thread is proof that one can twist statistics into anything one wants.