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Random thought and general silliness

S

shadowdragon

SOC-12
Came across this somewhere- i dont know where, but i think its rather amusing.

Doctors And Guns
11-27-06

FACTS TO PONDER

(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. Dept of Health Human Services.

Now think about this...

(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000. (Yes, that's 80 million..)

(B) The number of accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500.

(C) The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .0000188

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.
 
And THAT is why I ALWAYS go to a Doctor who has a Medical-3 or higher skill level.

Remember fellow Travellers, ALWAYS check your doctors character sheet before treatment!
 
Silliness is about right, I've seen this before, it's almost urban legend worthy. How many times do people have to be told statistics aren't worth the paper (or bytes) they written on?
It's time for one of my favorite quotes again, "There's three kinds of lying. Lies, DAMNED LIES, and statistics."

A better comparison of the threat would be to take the total number of physician visits for a year (in the US) which is something like 995 million. Yes, almost a billion physician visits (hospital outpatient and office) a year in the US. So...

(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000 (I'll use your number though it's debatable. It could be more or less.)

(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000 (Again, I've seen different figures. And you have to factor that most of these people were not healthy before the physician saw them whereas most accidental gunshot victims were.)

(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 (however... )

(D) Accidental deaths per physician visit is 1.723 e-10

...or something like 100,000 times more likely that you'll be killed in a gun accident than in a physician accident, despite the hugely more likely probability that you will encounter a physician in a year than you will a carelessly handled gun.

But then, that's just another statistic
file_22.gif
 
If you are going to examine physician VISITS vs accidental deaths, then shouldn't it be compared to shots fired per accidental gun deaths.

Physicians vs gun owners are the same kind of statistic (persons out of the total population). Physician visits vs gun owners are dissimilar statistics - one is an event and the other is a person.

One of the basic rules in mathematics is to watch your units.
 
Almost all of the 'accidental deaths caused by physicians' are in fact 'deaths physicians failed to prevent due to a medical error'. Most people who die due to physician error would also have died without any physician being involved at all. The lesson we can learn from this is 'getting sick is dangerous'.

For another comparison: there were 38,444 auto accident fatalities in 2004, out of a total of 238 million vehicles and 199 million registered drivers. That makes owning a car about ten times as dangerous as owning a gun.

As yet another figure, 39% of auto accidents involve alcohol. It would be interesting to know if that ratio remains true for accidents of all types (I wouldn't be surprised)
 
more silliness:

Google Maps (TM) directions from NY city to Paris, France


Head southwest on Broadway toward Warren St

Turn left at Park Row

Slight right at Frankfort St

Turn left at Pearl St

Turn right onto the F.D.R. Dr N ramp

Merge onto FDR Dr N

Take exit 17 on the left for Triboro Bridge/Grand Central Pkwy toward I-278/Bruckner Expy

Merge onto Triborough Bridge
Partial toll road

Merge onto I-278 E via the ramp to I-87 N/Bronx/Upstate N Y/New England

Take exit 47 to merge onto Bruckner Expy/I-278 E toward New Haven

Take the I-278 E exit toward New Haven

Merge onto Bruckner Expy

Continue on I-95 N
Partial toll road

Entering Connecticut

Take exit 48 on the left to merge onto I-91 N toward Hartford

Take exit 29 for US-5 N/CT-15 toward I-84/E Hartford/Boston

Merge onto CT-15 N

Merge onto I-84 E
Partial toll road

Entering Massachusetts

Take the exit onto I-90 E/Mass Pike/Massachusetts Turnpike toward N.H.-Maine/Boston
Partial toll road

Take exit 24 A-B-C on the left toward I-93 N/Concord NH/S Station/I-93 S/Quincy

Merge onto Atlantic Ave

Turn right at Central St

Turn right at Long Wharf

Swim across the Atlantic Ocean (3,462 mi 29 days 0 hours)

Slight right at E05

At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit onto E05/Pont Vauban

Turn right at E05
Partial toll road

At the traffic circle, take the 2nd exit onto A131/E05 heading to A131/Rouen/Paris/Evreux
Partial toll road

Take the exit onto A13/E05/L'Autoroute de Normandie
Partial toll road

Take the exit onto A13/E05/L'Autoroute de Normandie
Partial toll road

Take the exit on the left onto A14 toward Nanterre/La Défense
Partial toll road

Slight right at N13

Turn right at Avenue de Neuilly/N13

At the traffic circle, take the 4th exit onto Avenue de la Grande Armée

At Place Charles de Gaulle, take the 5th exit onto Avenue des Champs-Elysées

Slight right at Voie Georges Pompidou

Slight left to stay on Voie Georges Pompidou

Slight right at Quai de la Mégisserie

Continue on Quai de Gesvres

Turn left at Place de l'Hôtel de Ville
 
I would prefer to drive over the Arctic ocean that to swim the Atlantic ocean, but that's just me.

[Note to self, gas up in Canada and pick up better chains for the tires.]
 
dont forget to buy zippo fluid and drop the pressure in your tires to about 15 psi.

the zippo fluid is to reinflate them when they pop off the rim
 
Well statistics is never about watching your units ;) That'd imply it was a mathematical science when it's more an agenda tool. In this case the point was to show that physicians are more dangerous than carelessly handled guns, implying that guns are good and you can't have mine. Starting with that goal, as shadowdragon notes, it's not hard to prove gun ownership to be safer than something.

I agree it was a fun little notion, as long as it's seen for what it is
Scaremongering.

It's like every time a plane crashes there's a cry for more airline safety, ignoring the fact that it's quite a lot safer than crossing the street. But you don't get headlines like "Hundreds die in fiery crosswalk crash.", or pundits proclaiming "If god had wanted us to cross streets she'd have given us wheels."

Only this time some "investigative journalist" wanted to make a name and found out that physicians sometimes screw up badly (shock! they are human?!) and needing a sensationalist angle to grab viewers compared it to a small subset of gun deaths. Which of course the pro gun lobby was only too happy to take and spread. At least I seem to recall that's how this started a few years back.

I suppose if you want to fix the units then you can't equate gun owners to physicians as the original did either. It's not like the accidental deaths quoted for physicians result from them being careless with their medical bag at home and the kids playing with it. Or climbing through wire fences with loaded syringes. Or mistaking a colleague for a patient and cutting him up with a scalpel. Or getting spooked in the middle of the night and performing open heart surgery on a suspected intruder in the dark, only to find it's a sneaky loved one.

As for shots fired, it is generally a 1 to 1 (1 shot to each accidental fatality). So you could compare that to...

...but what's the point
It's all just silliness in this kind of statistical "analysis" since it has an agenda.

And if I'm straying too close to politics for the forum in my own twisted humour in reply then I apologize... and credit your imagination .
file_22.gif
 
Quote:
Or getting spooked in the middle of the night and performing open heart surgery on a suspected intruder in the dark, only to find it's a sneaky loved one.

file_21.gif
file_21.gif
file_21.gif
 
The real problem is why do we get a world with polar ice caps to connect the continents. An equirorial sand bar around the earth (like a giant Daytona Beach, Florida) would be so much nicer.
 
weellllll occifer i was walkin down th' street lookin at my piece an i slipped an' fell an' it accidently fired 27 times into his back. whadda ya mean "its a six-gun"- i know that! i own th' danged thing you know!
 
"As for shots fired, it is generally a 1 to 1 (1 shot to each accidental fatality). So you could compare that to..."


Or me personally... shots fired:
A. growing up - several hundred (taught by father [Police Officer])
B. High School ROTC Rifle Team - several thousand
C. 8 years USMC - several thousand
D. recreationally since (18 years) - a couple thousand

Total shots fired: well over 10,000

Accidental gun-related fatalities - NONE.
 
Originally posted by shadowdragon:
weellllll occifer i was walkin down th' street lookin at my piece an i slipped an' fell an' it accidently fired 27 times into his back. whadda ya mean "its a six-gun"- i know that! i own th' danged thing you know!
Click to expand...
I always liked the accidental death verdict on the Bowler in Mystery Men - paraphrasing, "he fell down an open lift shaft on to some bullets."
 
shadowdragon; I've done the ultimate act of plagurism by copying your post and spamming my email contact list.

Thanks for the material
file_22.gif
 
Originally posted by far-trader:
A better comparison of the threat would be to take the total number of physician visits for a year (in the US) which is something like 995 million. Yes, almost a billion physician visits (hospital outpatient and office) a year in the US. So...

(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000 (I'll use your number though it's debatable. It could be more or less.)

(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000 (Again, I've seen different figures. And you have to factor that most of these people were not healthy before the physician saw them whereas most accidental gunshot victims were.)

(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171 (however... )

(D) Accidental deaths per physician visit is 1.723 e-10

...or something like 100,000 times more likely that you'll be killed in a gun accident than in a physician accident, despite the hugely more likely probability that you will encounter a physician in a year than you will a carelessly handled gun.
Click to expand...
Ruhhh? :confused: Only off by 1e6... Let me help your math here:

1e5 deaths/1e9 visits = 1e-4

So that makes a visit to the doctor 10 times as dangerous as gun ownership.
 
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