“Iatrogenic”, from the Greek Iatros meaning “physician” and -genic, meaning “induced by” – together “physician-induced”. Medical definition: “induced by a physician’s words or therapy (used especially of a complication resulting from treatment).” Thus Iatrogenic death is death resulting directly or indirectly from a physician’s words or therapy.

In 2000, a presidential task force labelled medical errors a “national problem of epidemic proportions.” Members estimated that the “cost associated with these errors in lost income, disability, and health care costs is as much as $29 billion annually.” In the same year the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study by Dr. Barbara Starfield (John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health) that put Iatrogenic deaths in America at the astounding number of 225,000! 

Dr. Starfield cautioned that as startling as this research was, it only represented hospitalized patients – it did not include deaths in nursing homes, emergency rooms, or in doctor’s offices. It did not include negative effects that are associated with disability or discomfort. And, these estimates of death due to error are lower than those in other published reports (L. Leape -1997). Nevertheless, 225,000 iatrogenic deaths per year constitute the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from cancer and heart disease! The most significant number of these unnecessary deaths, 106,000, were due to the negative effects of properly prescribed drugs, making them the fourth leading cause of death in America.