re: Are medical errors really the third leading cause of death in this country?

I've been told by friends who are doctors that my dad's death could have been prevented (at least delayed for quite some time) had his doctor not dropped the ball. I'm actually a lawyer and was in law school at the time, but I was not interested in pursuing a malpractice suit; it's not like it would have brought him back. The more I think about it, I get really pissed because those doctor friends said that what ended up killing him was something a med school student would have known to check out.