Give or take a few thousand, approximately 80,000 people in the United States die each and every year at the hands of medical "professionals."

Medical malpractice is rampant in this country and it isn't receiving the kind of press it deserves.

Consider this. If you run the numbers, 80,000 deaths a year is the equivalent of three fully packed jumbo jets nose diving into the ground with no survivors, every week.

How long would it take for you to realize you need to find a better form of transportation? And yet, patients are being admitted to hospitals and treated in doctor's offices with out ever considering their odds of coming out alive. It staggers the imagination.

Medical malpractice is such an epidemic that if it were some new kind of new flu virus, the center for disease control in Atlanta would be screaming to the high heavens.

But still, the American public is being led into precarious medical situations like sheep being led to slaughter.

The statistics have been confirmed by numerous studies performed in California and New Jersey. Ph.D., Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Ph.D, and Robert H. Brook, M.D., Sc.D. discovered that autopsy studies revealed rates between 35 and 40% of missed diagnoses by medical personnel. The majority of the cases resulted in the patient's death.

Unfortunately medical malpractice injuries and deaths go un-publicized since the incidents happen "only" one at a time. The social impact (shock factor) is not present because injury and death is sort of a "private thing." Even more disturbing, these numbers are only based on statistics the hospitals themselves are willing to reveal. It doesn't take much of a stretch in the imagination to believe that the numbers are far greater.

The stats do not include deaths from missed diagnoses or medical negligence that occurred in clinics, private doctors' offices, dental offices or other non-hospital facilities.

Interestingly, very few claims are filed on behalf of the victims. Less than 2% of the people injured, (or their families in fatal cases) ever seek compensation by filing a lawsuit.

Medical Malpractice in the United States is a national disgrace. Even worse, it is receiving little attention when compared to the hottest new TV reality show.

We "Survivors" better quickly figure out if there is anything that can be done to stop the slaughter.