The CDC doesn’t record medical malpractice as a category for cause of death or injury. It’s grouped under “accidents” in their statistics (their official 3rd ranked category).
> The CDC’s published mortality statistics, however, count only the “underlying cause of death,” defined as the condition that led a person to seek treatment.
Because of this political choice the information comes from 3rd parties digging into the accidents category.
Not to downplay the malpractice problem, but this doesn’t sound remotely plausible. Do you have some sources to back up this claim?
I googled around a bit and it appears to come from some sloppy misuse of statistics in a journal one time, plus internet amplification.