In 1976, doctors in Los Angeles went on strike because of the rising cost of malpractice insurance. All elective and non-emergency surgery and medical attention were canceled. During that time, 18 percent fewer people died than usual.
From all our exposure to unnecessary penicillin through medication as well as through treatment of cattle and pork, life-threatening bacteria have grown resistant to our number-one line of defense. In 1960, 13 percent of staphylococci infections were resistant to penicillin. Now, 91 percent are resistant to penicillin.
There is a phenomenon called noscomial disease. It means coming to a hospital for some reason, and catching another disease while in the hospital. Hospitals are not healthy places. One out of every 21 Americans admitted will catch something else merely from being in the hospital. Every year, 15,000 Americans die of something other than what they were admitted for.
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