The Reuters story I mentioned below reports:
Amy Sisley, an emergency room doctor at the University of Maryland Medical Center, speaking on behalf of Physicians for Social Responsibility . . . said 90 percent of spinal cord injuries in the United States are caused by gunshot wounds and noted that $1.8 billion a year is spent on spinal cord injuries.
On the other hand, the Spinal Cord Injury Information Network, hosted at the University of Alabama, reports that acts of violence caused 11.2% of spinal cord injuries (presumably a smaller percentage comes from acts of violence that involve firearms). The Centers for Disease Control likewise gives data inconsistent with the 90% figure:
The leading causes of [spinal cord injury] vary by age. Among persons under age 65, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause. Among persons over 65, falls cause most SCIs.
Many thanks to Nancy Johnson and another reader for the pointers.
UPDATE: I called Dr. Sisley to ask her about this yesterday, and she was kind enough to call back today. She reports that the error is Reuters’, which misquoted her — I have more on this here.
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