Friday, February 23, 2007
'Guns don't kill people, doctors do'
From the Dallas Ranch Branch of the extended ER family, who got it from who knows where. Not checked. Well worth considering.
For the record, I own one of each: a rifle, a pistol and a shotgun. Haven't used them in years. I once owned a derringer. I also have a BB pistol. I underwent gun safety training in the early 1990s even though I would've been grandfathered in.
Bottom line: "Cold, dead fingers," etc.
--ER
PHYSICIANS:
(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.
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
HANDGUNS:
Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000 (yes, that's 80 million).
(B) Accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.000188.
Statistics courtesy of the FBI
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!!!!!
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.
A concerned citizen.
For the record, I own one of each: a rifle, a pistol and a shotgun. Haven't used them in years. I once owned a derringer. I also have a BB pistol. I underwent gun safety training in the early 1990s even though I would've been grandfathered in.
Bottom line: "Cold, dead fingers," etc.
--ER
PHYSICIANS:
(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.
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
HANDGUNS:
Guns:
(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000 (yes, that's 80 million).
(B) Accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.
C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is 0.000188.
Statistics courtesy of the FBI
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!!!!!
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.
A concerned citizen.
Comments:
<< Home
Moral of the story is stay away from people with guns, stay out of the hospital, and double check what your doctor is doing to you.
"Dirty Hospitals"
Two million patients are infected in hospitals each year and 90,000 of those Americans die.
By Katharine Greider
January 2007 AARP Bulletin
http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourhealth/dirty_hospitals.html
1:20 Patients get a Hospital or doctor induced infection.
Hospital carelessness is the eighth cause of death in America.
According to several research studies in the last decade, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments.
12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery
7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals
20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals
80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals
106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs
from:http://www.health-care-reform.net/causedeath.htm
But:
"In 1996 there were over 34,000 gun deaths in the U.S." - Los Angeles Times, "Chicago Sues Gun Makers and Sellers", p 1, Nov. 13, 1998
And:
Deaths from Automobile accidents injury: 42,443 deaths in USA 2001 (CDC); 42,401 deaths reported in USA 1999 for "motor vehicle accidents" (NVSR Sep 2001)
Now for logical fallacies involved:
Dying from one cause is better than dying from another cause.
Doctors kill. But doctors save far more than they kill. Yes, but they kill because they are "careless". But they are careless because they are overworked and so forth and so on.
34,000 deaths by gun., but half of those death are suicides.
If the doctors, hospitals, guns, were monitored and watched over constantly the carelessness would go away and deaths would be reduced. Some people do not need to be working in a hospital. Some people do not need to be a doctor. Some people do not need a gun.
"Dirty Hospitals"
Two million patients are infected in hospitals each year and 90,000 of those Americans die.
By Katharine Greider
January 2007 AARP Bulletin
http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/yourhealth/dirty_hospitals.html
1:20 Patients get a Hospital or doctor induced infection.
Hospital carelessness is the eighth cause of death in America.
According to several research studies in the last decade, a total of 225,000 Americans per year have died as a result of their medical treatments.
12,000 deaths per year due to unnecessary surgery
7000 deaths per year due to medication errors in hospitals
20,000 deaths per year due to other errors in hospitals
80,000 deaths per year due to infections in hospitals
106,000 deaths per year due to negative effects of drugs
from:http://www.health-care-reform.net/causedeath.htm
But:
"In 1996 there were over 34,000 gun deaths in the U.S." - Los Angeles Times, "Chicago Sues Gun Makers and Sellers", p 1, Nov. 13, 1998
And:
Deaths from Automobile accidents injury: 42,443 deaths in USA 2001 (CDC); 42,401 deaths reported in USA 1999 for "motor vehicle accidents" (NVSR Sep 2001)
Now for logical fallacies involved:
Dying from one cause is better than dying from another cause.
Doctors kill. But doctors save far more than they kill. Yes, but they kill because they are "careless". But they are careless because they are overworked and so forth and so on.
34,000 deaths by gun., but half of those death are suicides.
If the doctors, hospitals, guns, were monitored and watched over constantly the carelessness would go away and deaths would be reduced. Some people do not need to be working in a hospital. Some people do not need to be a doctor. Some people do not need a gun.
# posted by 
: 11:03 AM
: 11:03 AM
A very impressive statistic, but rather misses the point that most gun deaths are caused deliberately. If they compared the total number of deaths due to doctors and the total number of deaths by shooting I think the figures would look remarkably different. Anyone care to go look for those stats?
"Most gun deaths are caused deliberately" is another way of saying, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."
Wow, is ever hard to find good stats on gun deaths that agree with each other. Here is a rough exstrapolated version of the 2004/5 numbers and distribution:
About 32,000 total deaths by fire arms in U.S.. About 16,000+ of those were suicides. About 6,000 were homicides. About 10,000 were acidents. What ever else comes out of these numbers and it seems consistant even over time and wierd collection systems, ownership of guns is a mental heath issue.
About 32,000 total deaths by fire arms in U.S.. About 16,000+ of those were suicides. About 6,000 were homicides. About 10,000 were acidents. What ever else comes out of these numbers and it seems consistant even over time and wierd collection systems, ownership of guns is a mental heath issue.
# posted by : 2:14 PM
: 2:14 PM
BOOK ALERT!
Tonight is the Annual OKC Library Book Sale. Starts at 5:30. thousands and thousands and thousands of books for sale.
Also starting today the Cassiday (sp) School book sale.
Come on ER lots of history books.
Tonight is the Annual OKC Library Book Sale. Starts at 5:30. thousands and thousands and thousands of books for sale.
Also starting today the Cassiday (sp) School book sale.
Come on ER lots of history books.
# posted by : 2:18 PM
: 2:18 PM
I just can't do it. My to-read "stack" is three huge plastic tubs of books. I surrendered last year. You know what I'm in to. You see something I'd like -- one or two MAX -- feel free to buy 'em and I'll buy 'em from you.
LOL! Indeed ER, you are correct; people kill people. You must admit though that in the field of 'killing people' guns are wonderfully efficient labour-saving devices: You no longer have to get your hands dirty, or be particularly skilled in the art; a casual finger flex from a safe distance is all that's needed to take someone's life from them. They are so convenient I'm sure that soon everyone will want one!
Oh, wait a minute... oh dear!
Oh, wait a minute... oh dear!
More seriously on that subject, guns are distinct from the other potentially lethal weapons lying around your house such as knives, baseball bats (and surgeons) in that they have no benign purpose; guns are designed purely to kill things.
To allow people – especially town- and city-dwellers – to carry them around in the normal course of their lives is actually encouraging people to kill people. Everyone experiences moments of extreme emotion when momentarily we are stripped of our civilising influences and revert to pure animal emotion – but these moments are fleeting.
A good example is the effect on the rate of attempted suicides by aspirin overdose when manufacturers stopped supplying the pills in bottles and only provided the blister packs. It’s easy to throw back a whole bottle of pills in a moment of extreme angst, but the time it takes to pop out enough pills from a blister pack is more than enough time for that moment to pass and rational thought to return. Hence the aspirin-overdose rate dropped dramatically when this policy was adopted.
Guns are the equivalent of a bottle of aspirin, in the split-second when the wielder is not thinking, just instinctively reacting, they can shoot and kill someone. Whereas if they had only a knife, or any other available object-as-potential-weapon, their rational thought would likely have returned before they could affect the kill.
To allow people – especially town- and city-dwellers – to carry them around in the normal course of their lives is actually encouraging people to kill people. Everyone experiences moments of extreme emotion when momentarily we are stripped of our civilising influences and revert to pure animal emotion – but these moments are fleeting.
A good example is the effect on the rate of attempted suicides by aspirin overdose when manufacturers stopped supplying the pills in bottles and only provided the blister packs. It’s easy to throw back a whole bottle of pills in a moment of extreme angst, but the time it takes to pop out enough pills from a blister pack is more than enough time for that moment to pass and rational thought to return. Hence the aspirin-overdose rate dropped dramatically when this policy was adopted.
Guns are the equivalent of a bottle of aspirin, in the split-second when the wielder is not thinking, just instinctively reacting, they can shoot and kill someone. Whereas if they had only a knife, or any other available object-as-potential-weapon, their rational thought would likely have returned before they could affect the kill.
Re, "guns are designed purely to kill things"
Skeet shooters and other sporting marksmen would disagree, but you're right: Skeet shooting and skilled shooting are competitions that stem *from* the invention of guns for killing things.
Re, "To allow people – especially town- and city-dwellers – to carry them around in the normal course of their lives is actually encouraging people to kill people."
Some people argue the exact opposite: If everyone is carrying heat, then, the reasoning goes, everyone will be less willing to start the shooting. Sort of a personal, community-based, mutually assured destruction thing.
You mean you can't buy a bottle of aspirin in the UK?? Weird. But I see where it makes sense.
Finally, what the heck happened to your tux? :-)
Skeet shooters and other sporting marksmen would disagree, but you're right: Skeet shooting and skilled shooting are competitions that stem *from* the invention of guns for killing things.
Re, "To allow people – especially town- and city-dwellers – to carry them around in the normal course of their lives is actually encouraging people to kill people."
Some people argue the exact opposite: If everyone is carrying heat, then, the reasoning goes, everyone will be less willing to start the shooting. Sort of a personal, community-based, mutually assured destruction thing.
You mean you can't buy a bottle of aspirin in the UK?? Weird. But I see where it makes sense.
Finally, what the heck happened to your tux? :-)
Hmm…
Number of deaths per million head of population for 2004:
0.00000116842027 – UK
0.00010069235846 – USA
By my reckoning that’s 86 times more likely to get shot in the USA than in the UK. Might be time to reassess your reasoning on that argument.
USA stats from
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
UK stats a combination of
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6 and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3761626.stm
as we don’t appear to record statistics for death by firearm, only death by gun crime, probably because the legal ownership of firearms in the UK is so heavily restricted.
Oh, and the tux (actually it’s a Prince Charlie Jacket) is still around, I just wanted a more current photo on my profile.
Post a Comment
Number of deaths per million head of population for 2004:
0.00000116842027 – UK
0.00010069235846 – USA
By my reckoning that’s 86 times more likely to get shot in the USA than in the UK. Might be time to reassess your reasoning on that argument.
USA stats from
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
UK stats a combination of
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6 and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3761626.stm
as we don’t appear to record statistics for death by firearm, only death by gun crime, probably because the legal ownership of firearms in the UK is so heavily restricted.
Oh, and the tux (actually it’s a Prince Charlie Jacket) is still around, I just wanted a more current photo on my profile.
<< Home
