iatrogenic (ī-ăt’rə-jĕn’ĭk) adjective
Iatrogenic, every hear of it? The word is used to describe a surgical or medical treatment that results in disease or death, including the side effects of drugs prescribed or administered inappropriately.
In other words, it’s a disease or condition you didn’t have it until you sought medical treatment.
To be more precise, Iatros means physician in Greek, and -genic, means induced by. Combine the two and you get the word iatrogenic, meaning physician-induced. So iatrogenic disease is caused by a physician.
You may be thinking “Big deal. It probably doesn’t happen very often.” If you are, hate to burst your bubble, but it happens a LOT. It’s a big problem.
Well, at least I’d call it a big problem when yearly there are 195,000 deaths in the hospital due to medical errors. As far back as 2000 this was a recognized problem, and a presidential task force labeled medical errors a “national problem of epidemic proportions.”
Around the same time, an article was published in “The Journal of the American Medical Association” (JAMA), and by someone from the very prestigious Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Dr. Barbara Starfield.
She described how the US health care system may contribute to poor health.
ALL THESE ARE DEATHS PER YEAR:
- 12,000 — unnecessary surgery
- 7,000 — medication errors in hospitals
- 20,000 — other errors in hospitals
- 80,000 — infections in hospitals
- 106,000 — non-error, negative effects of drugs
These total to 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic causes, and that’s just in the hospitals! How many people die at home?
According to statistics at that time, that made doctors the 3rd leading cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer.
And how many people didn’t die, but had adverse effects or long-term disabilites caused by iatrogenic conditions?
The way some people take a doctor’s word as gospel, they must truly think M.D. stands for Major Deity. But the fact is, they are regular people like you and me that went to school for a long time to become a doctor. But while they’ve got a lot of education, it’s impossible to be completely knowledgeable in every field of medicine. That’s why there are so many specialists.
The point is this – even though doctors have had a lot of schooling, that doesn’t make them perfect. The same goes for every other medical worker you come in contact with. People make mistakes.
So next time you seek medical treatment, keep in mind it’s an imperfect individual treating you. If you don’t understand why you’re getting a particular treatment, or why you need it, ask questions until you do understand. And if you don’t agree, get a second opinion.
It’s your body, and your health. Take charge of it.
