Blog
Striking doctors - fewer deaths
21st May 2008
When doctors go on strike, the death rate can often fall - why is this?
There are many possible explanations including
Fewer operations with all of their attendant risks?
Less people acquiring hospital infections?
Fewer people taking prescribed drugs with the danger of complications and overdoses
The placebo effect from not having doctors poking around?
More pain but fewer deaths?
Did the death rate spike up and eventually return to normal after the end of a doctor strike?
This issue is just one of several fascinating topics discussed in the latest More or Less programme on BBC radio 4 The current programme includes an interview with Nicholas Taleb and tackles the thorny issue of biased voting at the Eurovision Song Contest!
More or Less is presented by Tim Harford who is speaking at our conference at the British Library on the 27th June
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.