Currently in the U.S., patients are unable to find out details, such as a surgeon's rate of complications or the mistakes a hospital makes. The type of data that may influence a patient’s medical treatment decisions is unavailable, except subjective values such as a hospital’s reputation among specialists.
Dr. Marty Makary, a cancer surgeon and author of "Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care," is calling for an end to the silence that often protects incompetent or careless practitioners and hospitals alike. His commendable goal is to reduce the over 9 million patients harmed or killed every year in the United States by medical mistakes. Unfortunately, through predictably, he is facing resistance from hospitals and medical professionals. Click here for an article about Dr. Makary’s struggle.
We here at The Law Firm of Evan H. Farr agree that there should be transparency in healthcare, similar to the transparency of information that is readily available for nursing home care. Nursing homes are currently rated annually by Medicare, and the quality of care ratings for more than 17,000 nursing homes is available publically on the web on Medicare.gov’s Nursing Home Compare website.
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