I have not verified this figure, but I assume it to be true. He published it in his book so I assume it was researched.

The third leading cause of death in the US is (correctly prescribed) prescription medicines. 238,000 people a year. At least that is what Dr Malcolm Kendrick says. On average an 80 year old is taking 10 different medications (40 tablets) daily.

It is a long and rambling interview an hour long. Pretty good but those long interviews is hard for me to stay focused to catch the nuggets of good within. If you do not want to listen to the whole hour you can get the punch line recommendations in the last 5 or 10 minutes of the interview. Of course you will not get the research or reasoning behind it that is in the rest of the interview.

The more I listen to this Dr, the more impressed I am with his research into the topic of health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-jer6mPiCI

John