Hospitals Continue to Harm Patients and Hide Critical Information, Part II

A few months ago I wrote here and here about outbreaks of deadly infection stemming from inadequate sterilization of certain surgical devices.  At least some of the hospitals involved knew that they were infecting their patients and hid the information from them and from the general public.  This week CNN on line carried the story of another hospital hiding critical information from its patients and from the public.  In this case the hospital is located in South Florida and the problems arise in the hospital’s pediatric heart surgery program.

The article recounts how parents whose newborn daughter had just undergone heart surgery were approached by a stranger in the elevator and told to get their child to a different hospital as many babies were dying in this hospital after similar surgery.  When the parents went to their child’s cardiologist to ask about transferring their daughter, he surprised them by saying he thought it was a good idea and assisting with the transfer. Their child lived.  Many others were not so fortunate.  The article goes on to recount the tragic stories of a number of infants who underwent complex heart surgery at the hospital and either died or were badly injured during the operation.

CNN conducted an investigation which involved Freedom of Information Act requests to state agencies.  It discovered that the death rate at this hospital was three times the national average for similar surgeries.  It ultimately attributed the high death rate to the fact that the hospital did not do very many heart surgeries on newborns.  As we have discussed over and over, practice makes perfect and doctors and hospitals that do not do a procedure frequently, often lose critical skills and have poorer patient outcomes.

The two takeaways from this story are: (1) Don’t count on hospitals to tell you either before or after that they are not very good at what they do or that their patients die or are injured at rates higher than at other hospitals.  Hospitals will almost always hide behind a curtain of silence.  In the CNN story many of the parents interviewed reported that they asked questions in advance of the surgeries on their children and were lied to by the hospital staff.  (2)  Before having a procedure at a hospital, inquire about how often they do your particular surgery.  Also review hospital performance and experience at government web sites.  Always choose a hospital and doctor who do a lot of your particular surgery.  If you do, you will give yourself the best chance to have a good outcome.

Posted in disclosure of medical mistakes, Doctors, Hospital Negligence, Hospitals, Secrecy |