Personal Injury Law

45,000 deaths per year are associated with lack of Health Insurance

By Hurley, McKenna & Mertz

As a medical malpractice lawyer, I am very disheartened by the following story, which illustrates the major affect that health insurance has on health outcomes and the health care system in general.

Madison part reports for CNN, ?a freelance cameraman's appendix ruptured and by the time he was admitted to surgery, it was too late. A self-employed mother of two is found dead in bed from undiagnosed heart disease. A 26-year-old aspiring fashion designer collapsed in her bathroom after feeling unusually fatigued for days. What all three of these people have in common is that they experienced symptoms, but didn't seek care because they were uninsured and they worried about the hospital expense... All three died? (9/18).

Research released last week in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance, and have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private health insurance. The estimate came from careful examination of government health surveys from more than 9,000 people between the ages of 17 and 94.

Full post as published by Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog on September 27, 2009 (boomark / email).