Thread: Indian man 'survives without food or water for decades'

http://videosift.com/video/Tibetan-M...ugh-Meditation

Meditation is key to the power the mind holds over the body.

It's incredible! Unbelievable! But not surprising. Here in the west we have already done many placebo effect tests just to see how far the power of the mind goes. In one placebo effect test, patients with bad knees were only made to believe that their knee was operated on. The healing effect was identical to patients who did go under surgery. My mind still has trouble believing it, but as time goes on, I keep hearing about more and more cases of just how incredible the human mind is.

I've heard of a few isolated incidents of this happening.

This looks like the most Western-oriented documentation of the phenomenon: http://books.google.com/books?id=mtD...page&q&f=false.

I have heard of lots of cases like this in India.
I met a man who (apparently) lived off of smoking cow shit!
Hard to believe here in the Western world where people never even think of trying it.
But over there many people try it, some may be successful, I don't know.

I have been eating only raw vegetables for a whole month now and I feel great.
I eat a lot less than I have. I feel amazing. But I don't expect to do this permanently.

*rolls eyes* that is all.

Originally Posted by LucidFlanders

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8652837.stm

Thoughts?

Bullshit.
Complete and utter bullshit. How can you people be so damn ignorant?
He "claims" to have done it. Doctor's are DOING tests. We have no results yet. Why would you believe it?

P.S - I haven't taken a shit for 40 years. I simply expel it into the sea of neutrinos.

Tommo do you also think it bullshit that someone can go without breathing for 15 minutes? What about an hour? What about monks who sit in freezing temperatures and create immense amounts of heat? Humans have done some pretty unbelievable things...is it so much of a stretch to think that someone can exist without eating? I think it's entirely possible. I used to go months without eating several years ago, and it was no big deal, and I'm just normal person. Don't be so quick to call people ignorant who are open to believing such things. And when you joke about things you don't really seem to understand, like neutrinos, you are only making yourself sound ignorant.

Originally Posted by tommo

Why would you believe it?

It's only a matter of time before someone made a post like yours. No one in this forum believes naively. If we believe in the possibility that a man can survive years without food or water, it's because we have a personal reason to believe. Something that we experienced, or something that we learned that opened us up to this possibility, prior to having hear about this old old man.

For me, personally? You start to believe in this mind over matter business when your stomach ulcer that's been causing you pain for six months day in and day out, disappears all together in less than one hour, just because you sat down and meditated.

After my experience and reading biology of belief, I don't have any reason not to believe. But I do have a hard time accepting it as reality. If I did, well then I'd be a breatherian right now too.

Originally Posted by Aquanina

do you also think it bullshit that someone can go without breathing for 15 minutes? What about an hour?

These cases are not bullshit, but they are however extremely rare. Even attempting them would be dangerous. But there is no physical reason why this cannot be achieved.

Surviving for an hour without breathing is simply the mammalian diving reflex kicking in to action, and most of these generally extremely rare cases tend to involve young children, who seem to exhibit this reflex more strongly.

And in 99.9999% of cases, hypoxia = brain damage or death.

What about monks who sit in freezing temperatures and create immense amounts of heat?

This is not as impressive as it appears. Whilst the meditative aspects involved are important, these displays always take place in an environment where there is very limited thermal conduction (translation: very little heat is lost). An example would be a stunt where someone was surrounded by ice cubes for 1 hour, and this is only possible because of the air pockets limit the heat loss. If it were tried in water of the same temperature, the person would have frozen to death in minutes.

Humans have done some pretty unbelievable things...is it so much of a stretch to think that someone can exist without eating? I think it's entirely possible. I used to go months without eating several years ago, and it was no big deal, and I'm just normal person.

Surviving months without eating? No, that's certainly possible; the average healthy person could last 1-2 months. Probably longer if they were overweight. However to claim "it was no big deal" is complete bullshit. Either you did absolutely nothing to expend energy, you ate more than you claim (or realised - night eating syndrome), or you magically managed to sustain complicated biological processes without an external source of energy whilst maintaining an active lifestyle with no negative effects. I'm calling your story as you present it a complete load of crap.

As for not needing to drink for "decades", this is utter nonsense. During the course of human metabolic reactions and general biological processes, ammonia is produced via deamination, which is then converted in to the less toxic urea by combination with CO2, and which is then excreted in urine. The human kidneys are unable to concentrate this to the level of other animals, and so removing this requires a relatively large amount of water. Failure to remove this will quickly cause death; this is why people have to use dialysis machines every few days.

You do the maths. No water intake combined with continual water loss ... what happens then? I forget. Oh wait, people die of dehydration.

News stories like this are dangerous. Many foolish people believe them, and die as a result of trying unbelievably stupid and ignorant stunts.

When people talk about stuff like this, they're essentially making claims against the laws of physics. It's one thing to mention extremely rare events such as surviving without oxygen for an hour (though you completely failed to mention the context). It's another to make completely contradictory claims about reality and then get angry when people rightly claim it is bullshit.

Originally Posted by Aquanina

Tommo don't be so closed minded. Do you also think it bullshit that someone can go without breathing for 15 minutes? What about an hour? What about monks who sit in freezing temperatures and create immense amounts of heat? Humans have done some pretty unbelievable things...is it so much of a stretch to think that someone can exist without eating?

Lol. Yes.

Originally Posted by Aquanina

I think it's entirely possible. I used to go months without eating several years ago, and it was no big deal, and I'm just normal person. Don't be so quick to call people ignorant who are open to believing such things. And when you joke about things you don't really seem to understand, like neutrinos, you are only making yourself sound ignorant.

Lol. I was joking. It doesn't have to make sense.
In fact jokes many are better when they don't make sense. Which is what makes this story so hilarious.

Originally Posted by juroara

No one in this forum believes naively.

vv

Originally Posted by juroara

If we believe in the possibility that a man can survive years without food or water, it's because we have a personal reason to believe. Something that we experienced, or something that we learned that opened us up to this possibility, prior to having hear about this old old man.

Seriously? That's like the definition of naive.
I saw a guy run behind my couches when I was a kid. There was nobody there when I looked. But it must have been real. He probably vanished into the cosmos by deriving energy from meditation.

Originally Posted by juroara

For me, personally? You start to believe in this mind over matter business when your stomach ulcer that's been causing you pain for six months day in and day out, disappears all together in less than one hour, just because you sat down and meditated.

OH.... MY.... GOD....

If you knew anything about meditation, ulcers or treatment for ulcers you would know this is completely explainable.
One, meditation/relaxation boosts the immune system.
Two, ulcer pain sometimes disappears for weeks or months. That's the only indication you have to tell if your ulcer is gone right? So how do you know it wasn't still there?
and Three, any number of things you may have ate afterward could have healed it if it hasn't come back. But besides that, I find it hard to believe you didn't go to the doctor after 6 months of pain. This would mean you got antibiotics.
And if you didn't go to the doctor, you're just an idiot.

Originally Posted by tommo

Seriously? That's like the definition of naive.

Then you didn't understand what I said.

OH.... MY.... GOD....

If you knew anything about meditation, ulcers or treatment for ulcers you would know this is completely explainable.

I became very intimate with my stomach, ulcers, food, stress, drinks, caffeine, fruit and medicine. I never said that my healing wasn't explainable. That is your false interpretation of this thread. There is an explanation for my healing and all miraculous feats of the human body, it's called the mind.

One, meditation/relaxation boosts the immune system.

Boosting the immune system does not explain a spontaneous healing that took place in meditation session that in reality was only about half an hour. I was in the worst pain yet before the session started. My stomach ulcer was at it's worse.

Two, ulcer pain sometimes disappears for weeks or months. That's the only indication you have to tell if your ulcer is gone right? So how do you know it wasn't still there?

Because an ulcer isn't in your head. They have real physical manifestations. And if you knew and suffered a stomach ulcer you would know there is a very simple and easy way to know if you have a stomach ulcer. Eat regular food. My stomach ulcer was so bad, I couldn't even eat most common fruits because they were too acidic. PINEAPPLE IS DEATH. I couldn't eat any spices, I couldn't drink most drinks. No fruit drinks. And if I drank water it needed to be warm. Even cold water would hurt my stomach. Just about everything hurt my stomach unless it was basically bland and boring food. Oh and chocolate, I couldn't have chocolate!!

My stomach was also swollen before the meditation. The first time the doctor examined me the swelling concerned him so much, he thought that the blood vessels in my stomach were about to pop! He rushes me quickly to get some tests done and scares the shit out of me and my mom! My blood vessels were fine, the swelling remained a mystery, and/or required more expensive tests that I just didn't have the money for

and Three, any number of things you may have ate afterward could have healed it if it hasn't come back.

There is no magical food that can make the stomach ulcer magically disappear in less than a hour. I know, because I desperately tried to find one. I was already eating and drinking things I usually don't because health gurus were telling this is what cures the stomach ulcer. But even the most optimistic health gurus still agreed the healing process takes about a month. I could feel the effect of the foods and drinks, but I started drinking and eating them months prior the meditation session. Months later, the stomach ulcer was still there. No food and drink spontaneously healed my stomach ulcer.

But besides that, I find it hard to believe you didn't go to the doctor after 6 months of pain. This would mean you got antibiotics.

I went to the doctors twice. Both times they just prescribed me the purple pill. I never took the pill because in both cases neither doctor would even sit down and talk to me about the side effects of the pill. I did the research my self and discovered horrifying stories. I listened to my intuition and decided this pill was crap and bad for my body. I'm glad I listened because months later a report came out showing evidence how this pill actually increases your risk of stomach cancer. It wasn't medicine, it was poison, and quite frankly I didn't need it.

And if you didn't go to the doctor, you're just an idiot.

Actually I'm convinced doctors are useless. Call me an idiot all you want but I've been educated on a higher truth. Doctors are behind the scientific times. They are still learning that body is mechanical and that you can treat it and fix it up like a mechanical Newtonian machine. When in reality the body is more like a complex digital computer following the principles of Einstein. With programs that mess up having nothing to do with the physical components.

The statistics are in. Medication is now one of the leading causes of death. Take a hint!

By why are you so quick to call me an idiot anyways? Does my experience challenge your contrived view of reality first hand? I bet it does. Your entire language and tone tells me you aren't mentally ready to accept that spontaneous healing is a reality even though thousands of people world wide have experienced it. Btw, what is your explanation of the famous story of the women who lifted up a car to save her child underneath it? After this miraculous feat, she was asked to lift the car again. She couldn't! By all logic, she shouldn't even be able to life the car, but she did.

According to doctors, there is no medical explanation for a stomach ulcer to completely heal within less than an hour. My doctors explained to me that ulcers take WEEKS, WEEKS to heal. But my stomach ulcer wasn't healing before the meditation, it was getting worse.

When I woke up from the meditation, I was in such disbelief I started to pound on my stomach. I was laughing deliriously because I couldn't believe it myself. But there was no more pain. There was no more sensitivity to touch, I mean, before even breathing deeply would cause me pain!! There was no more swelling. There was no more burning. I could eat again. I can breathe fully. I could move around freely without twisting my stomach the wrong way and regretting it.

During the meditation it felt like my stomach was warm, fizzing, and sizzling, and that the stomach ulcer was literally melting away.

Is there a scientific explanation? Yes. I healed it with the power of my intention and mind.That is the scientific explanation, and there is a lot of scientific research going on right now showing how the mind can heal the body. Now the medical field doesn't pay attention or even consider teaching this science because it would put the entire drug industry out of business. Money is preventing this new science reaching the masses. Money is also needed for funding this new scientific research.

But it is science and it is true. I learned about this science just before I did my meditation, which is why I knew it would work. You should educate yourself about this science too and learn why doctors are behind the times.

Claims like this are often made and are often disproved.

I am a prophet and I predict that legitimate testing will show him either drinking something or dying within 2 weeks.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2..._right_tes.php

You have to be careful of calling something impossible. Because even if it doesn't make sense from our current knowledge, that doesn't mean it is impossible. It just means we have to take a closer look at it, because its very unlikely to be true.

I don't really buy into the story either, however I am willing to at least take a look at the results when they are finished testing it. If you don't think people can get energy from their surroundings, there are other possible things as well. Such as strange bacteria or perhaps a parasite that lives in the body, and they are some how getting nourishment from that.

Finding a bacteria or something similar that could feed a human body without outside sources, would be an amazing discovery. Just short of finding out they are really are gaining energy from meditation which would be super cool and change science in a big way. Of course, I don't blame people for wanting to see the research first.

I don't buy it for a second. People spew bullshit like this all the time. Although I am not so close-minded to claim that this is impossible, the fact that the human body requires lots and lots of energy to sustain itself does not bode well for this man.

Originally Posted by juroara

Is there a scientific explanation? Yes. I healed it with the power of my intention and mind.That is the scientific explanation, and there is a lot of scientific research going on right now showing how the mind can heal the body. Now the medical field doesn't pay attention or even consider teaching this science because it would put the entire drug industry out of business. Money is preventing this new science reaching the masses. Money is also needed for funding this new scientific research.

But it is science and it is true. I learned about this science just before I did my meditation, which is why I knew it would work. You should educate yourself about this science too and learn why doctors are behind the times.

If you want to be scientific, you would need to admit that you don't really know what cured you. There are literally a million other possibilities that should be considered, but you came to your conclusion based off of what you feel cured you, not what you know. You can't consciously know what made your ulcer go away unless a doctor or someone with the means to run tests tells you. If they are stumped, then it remains a mystery. I agree that the mind is very powerful. There is evidence that a severe neurosis can physically manifest some type of ailment, but the case for mind healing is not as well documented as you say it is. You can't say "I was thinking positively about curing my cancer, and it went away, therefore I cured it with my mind." That isn't scientific. So don't say that the scientific community validates your claim, because it doesn't. This reminds me of the Southpark episode where a "natural healing" craze sweeps the town and everybody shuns the real doctors as a result. Everybody keeps getting sick and the natural healer just recommends eating certain plants and meditating and things like that. People finally realize its not working when nobodies condition improves. I know that's just a cartoon, but you really should be careful about buying into this "natural healing" stuff when you really need a doctor.

Tommo is one of the few being rational here. I see a lot of "nothing is impossible" being thrown around, as if that makes this any more likely. If this mans heart is beating, which it is, and his brain is functioning, which it is, and his skin cells are shedding and regenerating, which they are, and his hair is growing, which it is, and his mouth is salivating, which it is, and his finger nails are growing, which they are, and his body is sweating (in India it has to be,) then he needs energy and substance to sustain himself. Unless he figured out some revolutionary way to energize himself and bring matter into his body that doesn't involve eating, this is just not a true story. And I am comfortable saying that.

It wouldn't even be as bad if he were in some sort of catatonic trance or something, but the article says he walks around outside and stuff. This story literally defies the laws of nature.

Originally Posted by Caprisun

Unless he figured out some revolutionary way to energize himself that doesn't involve eating, this is just not a true story. And I am comfortable saying that.

The revolutionary new way, is supposed to be meditation according to the story.

That is true though. If its not repeatable, then its not science. Which is why most things people experience on a personal level, isn't science, and generally not believed.

However he is trying to repeat it for people to study. If he succeeds and can repeat it then its science. I am not hopeful for it, however I would like to see it end is success, since it would be a huge breakthrough if true.

Originally Posted by juroara

Actually I'm convinced doctors are useless. Call me an idiot all you want but I've been educated on a higher truth.

The art of being ignorant, perchance?

Alright, if you think doctors are useless, you're an idiot. I guess in a few years time you'll be yet another statistic in the "list of people who died because they didn't seek professional medical advice because they thought they knew better". But hey, as long as your stupidity doesn't harm anyone else then that's entirely your choice.

The statistics are in. Medication is now one of the leading causes of death. Take a hint!

Really? Did you even do the most basic fact check before stating such outrageous claims? No, of course not.

In typical juroara fashion you believe what you want to believe and don't let such minor things as evidence, facts, or reality get in the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_death

And let's not forget even if this was true, it's still a fallacy to claim that it's bad. If a million people die due to a disease which is cured by a drug, but the drug itself kills 1000 people, then the drug becomes a leading cause of death. That doesn't mean anything because it's still responsible for saving 999000 people!

By why are you so quick to call me an idiot anyways?

Probably because you act like one?

Does my experience challenge your contrived view of reality first hand? I bet it does.

I doubt it very much. The more likely explanation is: you're an idiot. Someone is taking time out of their day to try to warn you that you're being an idiot, with the aim of stopping you from being an idiot. I don't hold much for their chances.

Your entire language and tone tells me you aren't mentally ready to accept that spontaneous healing is a reality even though thousands of people world wide have experienced it.

No, people have claimed to experience it. Many people have claimed to see Elvis, that doesn't prove he is still alive. And it does nothing to disprove the evidence suggesting Elvis is not alive.

Just because you cherry-pick stuff to conform to your preconceived beliefs it has no impact on how true they are.

Is there a scientific explanation? Yes. I healed it with the power of my intention and mind.

You don't even understand the most basic concepts of science. Science does not involve blindly stating facts and inserting your own explanation on no basis.



Just in case you were not aware, you fall in to the right hand side, not the left.

Now the medical field doesn't pay attention or even consider teaching this science because it would put the entire drug industry out of business.

Ah yes, the old conspiracy theories eh? Or perhaps it's just that massive lack of peer reviewed evidence for it, and plenty of evidence against it, which nutjobs like you claim is the result of an evil industry attempting one massive coverup so they can take all your money.

If it's such an obvious fact, in an age where censorship is effectively impossible, then why is there so much evidence of people dying over stunts like the ones mentioned in the OP. Or people who think they can cure cancer with magic natural remedies. Why are these 'treatments' never effective in double blind trials?

The funny thing is as well that the entire drug industry is required to go through double-blind trials to rule out the placebo effect. To actually sell the drug they have to go through an impartial test that cannot be biased because no one knows until afterwards who had the placebo, to actually prove it works. This also actually gives a yard-stick for what the placebo effect can achieve incidentally.

But it is science and it is true. I learned about this science just before I did my meditation, which is why I knew it would work. You should educate yourself about this science too and learn why doctors are behind the times.

Amazing. Despite all the people on this forum who have genuine scientific qualifications, including some who have studied at some of the best universities in the world, you believe you are highly knowledgeable about science and that others are just ignorant fools.

You are delusional. You are ignorant. Your knowledge of science, and the principles behind it is laughable. And it's absolutely hilarious that you consider yourself enlightened, with access to exclusive knowledge that other people refuse to believe. In actuality you're just a fool.

But then again, so am I because I wasted my time pointing this out to you where it will have no impact. All I'm doing is preaching to the choir.

Still, someone should tackle the bullshit that people like you sprout out (ironically because you're not busy starving to death or dying of readily curable diseases due to scientific knowledge), because it is dangerous and convinces other ignorant people in to trying the same stunts.

Fasting for a month or holding your breath for 15 minutes are not even in the same ballpark as going "decades" without eating or drinking, all presumably while living and functioning reasonably well. As Jules the hit man said, ain't the same fuckin' ballpark, it ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fuckin' sport.

Juroara. What I was saying is the pain from ulcers goes away sometimes. For weeks or months. In this time your ulcer could have healed without you even realising.
And I acknowledge that meditation can also have powerful effects like blocking pain etc.
But the point is, you are calling me close minded when you are the one that isn't acknowledging that there are other answers which are equally or more valid than yours.
Because the truth is, you don't know.

BTW I'm pretty sure I heard this same thing a few years ago. I don't know whether it was proven wrong (or publicised that it was proven wrong) but I'm guessing it was because otherwise the food industry wouldn't exist now.

You also have to be wary of claims like this. It's like religion. You can't disprove it when the believers say you just have to have faith.
If someone were to try this and fail, these believers would just say "Oh you didn't really believe you could do it, you held yourself back through your lack of faith".

Photolysis, i'm not even going to bother with your post.

If you want to be scientific, you would need to admit that you don't really know what cured you. There are literally a million other possibilities that should be considered, but you came to your conclusion based off of what you feel cured you, not what you know. You can't consciously know what made your ulcer go away unless a doctor or someone with the means to run tests tells you. If they are stumped, then it remains a mystery. I agree that the mind is very powerful. There is evidence that a severe neurosis can physically manifest some type of ailment, but the case for mind healing is not as well documented as you say it is

Juroara. What I was saying is the pain from ulcers goes away sometimes. For weeks or months. In this time your ulcer could have healed without you even realising.
And I acknowledge that meditation can also have powerful effects like blocking pain etc.
But the point is, you are calling me close minded when you are the one that isn't acknowledging that there are other answers which are equally or more valid than yours.
Because the truth is, you don't know.

I know what I experienced. I know that all the symptoms of my ulcer were gone within an hour. That is, the hour before I had all of the symptoms. There is no adequate explanation by the modern medical field. And you are forgetting even the modern medical field acknowledges what they call spontaneous remission, which translates to "we doctors have no idea why you got better so quickly".

But there is a real science that can explain what happened to me. I am not talking about something I just randomly made up one day. And this new science is able to explain the spontaneous remission and what happened to me in that short little hour. Why not read the book to understand where I am coming from, because I would do no justice paraphrasing it. There is also a video online you can watch somewhere floating on youtube but the book goes into more depth. The book is Biology of Belief.

You also have to be wary of claims like this. It's like religion.

I don't care whether this man did go 70 years without food or water, or seven months. I do not take anything anyone says as the absolute reality. But instead I ask myself what would it mean and how would it affect my reality if it is true. It's only the possibility that I am interested in. The reality is, it would make no difference to me if this man was a fraud.

If someone were to try this and fail, these believers would just say "Oh you didn't really believe you could do it, you held yourself back through your lack of faith".

Faith can and does translate to biology. Faith is a tricky thing because it means to believe in something 100%. To even believe in something 99% is doubt. But if you think this means faith is something science can never study, well that's not true. Scientists and doctors have come up with ingenious ways to study just how far faith/belief effect our biology. And if you believe in the scientific method, then the conclusion is simple, faith/belief effects our biology every time!

In one experiment children were asked to participate. Now the children grow up in area where a poisonous plant is prevalent. They know that this plant is poisonous. Now two different but identical looking leaves were rubbed on the arms of the children. The children were told which leaf was poisonous and which wasn't. As expected, the arm rubbed with the poisonous leaf became red and itchy. And as expected, the arm rubbed with the non-poisonous leaf was completely fine.

However, the children were lied to! The leaves were reversed without the children knowing it. The arm that became red and itchy. . was rubbed with a non-poisonous leaf. And the arm that remained completely fine, was rubbed with the poisonous leaf.

Now that's just a SIMPLE example of how faith/belief effects your biology. There are more documented and extreme cases. In historical documented case, one scientist disagreed that said bacteria was deadly to the human being. To prove that the bacteria was harmless, he drinks a vile of it in front of his colleagues. No symptoms, not now, not later. The colleagues just completely dismiss what they've witnessed, and continue to label this bacteria deadly to the human being. Even Bruce, author of Biology of Belief acknowledges that he has grown up believing so deeply that this bacteria is dangerous to the human being, that even he doubts he could ever drink that vile.

There is no middle ground with faith. That doesn't make the science harder to study, it makes it easier, because that's only two factors the scientist has to consider. Yes or no.

I survive solely by hoping I don't die. Are you all going to believe me now?

Photolysis, i'm not even going to bother with your post.

That's fine. It would only make you look more stupid if you attempted to refute it. My post stands on its own merits.

You on the other hand lost all credibility when you made claims like "medication is now one of the leading causes of death" when 10 seconds of checking your facts would show it to be complete nonsense.

Originally Posted by Photolysis

You on the other hand lost all credibility when you made claims like "medication is now one of the leading causes of death" when 10 seconds of checking your facts would show it to be complete nonsense.

Actually I did some quick checking, and there is apparently some validity to that claim. If you group all medical errors, and non errors where they knew the risk and side effects involved, then the leading cause of death in the US is caused from the medical field.

If you go by just medication, its 4th or 5th. If you go just by medical mistakes, its around 3rd. Studies vary on this however. Most seem to put medication death in the top ten however.

So while she was probably exaggerating when she made that claim, she wasn't entirely clueless on the subject either.

Originally Posted by Alric

Actually I did some quick checking, and there is apparently some validity to that claim. If you group all medical errors, and non errors where they knew the risk and side effects involved, then the leading cause of death in the US is caused from the medical field.

If you go by just medication, its 4th or 5th. If you go just by medical mistakes, its around 3rd. Studies vary on this however. Most seem to put medication death in the top ten however.

So while she was probably exaggerating when she made that claim, she wasn't entirely clueless on the subject either.

Firstly, where the hell are you getting these stats from?

Let's look at the US figures on the causes of death from the CDC. 2006 is the latest year they have the complete figures for so we'll use that.

http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/nvsr/nvsr57/nvsr57_14.pdf

Roughly 38000 people died from drug usage in 2006, out of 2.42 million deaths. That figure includes death by consumption of recreational drugs as well as medical drugs, and it doesn't differentiate between the two.

Accidental deaths were responsible for 5% of US deaths in 2006. about ~122000 deaths. This can be broken down in to

~44000 - car accidents
~22000 - alcohol related deaths
~38000 - recreational drugs (non alcohol) and accidental poisoning via prescription drugs
~18000 - other accidental injuries

The fact that deaths due to recreational drugs and prescription drugs are not differentiated is not helpful.


To be honest, the stats are so detailed that it would take far too long for me to go through them, but I did not see any stats that indicate medical errors and side-effects are a leading cause of death.

Secondly you completely ignored my argument above. If you completely wipe out all diseases but as a result kill some people due to the medical care, then of course the medical care becomes the leading cause of death. That doesn't mean medical care is evil and must be stopped; it saves millions of lives.

To argue that it's dangerous because of this is an incredible demonstration of a lack of reasoning and logic. It's an attempt to appeal to emotion "medical care is the leading cause of death!".

Furthermore, how many deaths occur due to risky prescription drugs where the patient has nothing to lose?