People who ought to know better are apparently unaware of the basic laws of inference. Here's a headline: Study: Drugs Linked to 1 in 5 Fatal Car Crashes. "Of the 21,798 drivers were killed on the road in the United States in 2009, about 18 percent of them had drugs in their system at the time of death, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in a new report released Tuesday."
"Drugs" includes illicit and legally prescribed drugs and over-the-counter medicines.
What question did they fail to ask? (Jeopardy! music plays . . . )
What percentage of all drivers has one or more of these drugs in their system at any given time? Could it be as high as 18%? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Discussion of public health and health care policy, from a public health perspective. The U.S. spends more on medical services than any other country, but we get less for it. Major reasons include lack of universal access, unequal treatment, and underinvestment in public health and social welfare. We will critically examine the economics, politics and sociology of health and illness in the U.S. and the world.
I thought the percentage would be much higher both in the general population and those in fatal accidents. Eighteen percent? The drug companies will be mighty disappointed with those findings.
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