Some health statistics

Source: "How American Health Care Killed My Father," David Goldhill, The Atlantic, September 2009.

Roughly 100,000 deaths occur each year in American hospitals from infections picked up in the hospital.

One hundred thousand deaths: more than double the number of people killed in car crashes, five times the number killed in homicides, 20 times the total number of our armed forces killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A lot of these infections, and consequently a lot of the deaths not to mention costs of treatment of the diseases, could be prevented by simple hygiene methods such as more frequent hand washing.

In April, a Wall Street Journal story suggested that blood clots following surgery or illness, the leading cause of preventable hospital deaths in the U.S., may kill nearly 200,000 patients per year.

Since 2001, the attack on the Twin Towers, we can assume that some 900,000 Americans have died from hospital acquired infections and some 1,800,000 Americans have died from blood clots after surgery. Makes the 3000 who died in the attacks pale be comparison.

So how much difference has the Department of Homeland Security made in this mortality. How much difference in the safety of Americans would the money we have spent on the war in Iraq have made if we had spent it improving the quality of health care in America (not to mention the lives of soldiers and contractors that would not have been lost in Iraq)?

The point is, if you don't count the alternative benefits that could be achieved with government finance, you make bad decisions.

Another point is that we can save a lot of lives and money with a little expenditure on improving hospital hygiene and improving the quality of health services.