Are Medication Errors the Number One Cause of Death in the United States?

By Paul M. Dohse, RN, CDP

The big three of yearly medical mortality in the U.S. are widely accepted as heart disease, cancer, and respiratory disease in that order. Heart disease will kill around 700,000[1], Cancer, 626,140[2], and chronic respiratory diseases, 145,643.[3]

In 2016, an 8-year study by John Hopkins University[4] published in the The BMJ suggested that present day medical coding does not account for mortality due to medical error. Hence, John Hopkins researchers found a way to calculate the hypothesis:

In their study, the researchers examined four separate studies that analyzed medical death rate data from 2000 to 2008. Then, using hospital admission rates from 2013, they extrapolated that based on a total of 35,416,020 hospitalizations, 251,454 deaths stemmed from a medical error, which the researchers say now translates to 9.5 percent of all deaths each year in the U.S.[5]

This would make medical errors in hospitals the third leading cause of death in the U.S. behind heart disease and cancer, while bumping respiratory diseases to number 4. Note, “in hospitals.” Before the relevance of that is considered regarding medication errors specifically, note that some kind of medication error is generally inherent with a medical error. For example, if someone receives the wrong treatment or operation, that necessarily involves the wrong medications as well. In fact, it is generally accepted that most medical errors involve medications in some way.[6]

According to the NIH, medication errors are 6.5 per hundred admissions in acute care.[7] This means that if there are 35,000,000 hospital admissions yearly in the U.S.,[8] and 6.5 per hundred involve medication error, that math is 350,000 x 6.5, which equals almost 3 million medication errors per year involving acute hospital care. This means that if the John Hopkins study is accurate, 8% of those medication errors result in death, which is certainly feasible.

Now consider: these studies only focus on hospitals, and do not include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, outpatient centers, or homes. And, in each of these venues, how many medication errors that lead to death are reported? Remember that 25% of all deaths that occur in the U.S. take place in nursing homes.[9]

More than likely, heart disease and cancer barely beat medication errors regarding mortality, if at all. In healthcare dollars, the three are rival competitors. Shockingly, of the 42 billion that medication errors cost healthcare systems globally, the U.S. accounts for 40 billion.[10] [11]

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[1] CDC. (2024, October 24). Heart Disease Facts. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

[2] NIH. (n.d.). Cancer Stat Facts: Common Cancer Sites. NIH. Retrieved https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/common.html

[3] CDC. (2026, February 24). Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Includes: Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema. National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/copd.htm

[4] Published, V. M. /. (2016, May 3). Johns Hopkins study suggests medical errors are third-leading cause of death in U.S. The Hub. https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/03/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death/

[5] Published, V. M. /. (2016, May 3). Johns Hopkins study suggests medical errors are third-leading cause of death in U.S. The Hub. https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/03/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death/

[6] jbaldera@amcp.org. (2019, July 18). Medication errors | amcp. Org. https://www.amcp.org/concepts-managed-care-pharmacy/medication-errors

[7] Tariq, R. A., Vashisht, R., Sinha, A., & Scherbak, Y. (2026). Medication dispensing errors and prevention. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519065/

[8] Fast facts on u. S. Hospitals, 2026 | aha. (2026, July 17). https://www.aha.org/statistics/fast-facts-us-hospitals

[9] Monroe, T. B., & Carter, M. A. (2010). Hospice care in US nursing homes: Benefits and barriers. European Journal of Palliative Care : The Journal of the European Association for Palliative Care, 17(3), 144–149. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7098682/

[10] CNS, V. L., ND. (2021, May 2). Medication errors statistics. The Checkup. https://www.singlecare.com/blog/news/medication-errors-statistics/

[11] The cost of dispensing the wrong medication. (n.d.). Retrieved August 13, 2026, from https://www.elevateht.com/blog/strong-the-cost-of-dispensing-the-wrong-medication-strong