Madam, - Your Editorial on the health system (December 17th) was deplorable in its misuse of language and abuse of "guesstimates".
You describe extrapolated estimates from a 1999 US study as "statistics" and suggest that 2,000 Irish people may die annually as a result of medical errors. This so-called "disclosure" (as though it were a well-kept secret) was made on RTÉ television with no factual support.
One would expect the editor of a responsible newspaper to place a high value on words, to base comments on evidence-based facts, and to eschew "statistics" from tabloid TV.
RTÉ's distorted derivations do not justify your editorial disservice to Irish medical and nursing staff. No one denies that medical errors do occur. But 2,000 deaths a year, 6,500 "victims", and thousands more injured? Where is your evidence? We need proven data, not offensive figments. - Yours, etc.,
Prof DENIS G. GILL, Royal College of Surgeons, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.