Doctors may have an ethical obligation to do so.
An article cited by the NY Times says that especially in the cases of cancer treatment, “doctors have an ethical obligation to tell patients if they are more likely to survive, be cured, live longer or avoid complications by going to Hospital A instead of Hospital B. And that obligation holds even if the doctor happens to work at Hospital B, and revealing the truth might mean patients will take their business someplace else.”
Studies show that outcomes correlate with the experience a particular surgeon or hospital has in treating a specific disease. It goes beyond a single doctor, and also includes post-op care, like “nursing, intensive care, respiratory therapy and rehabilitation.”
However, does disclosing information about other physicians and hospitals create a conflict of interest? And is judging by volume alone always accurate, since there are cases where some hospitals do many procedures poorly, and others that do a few cases well?
Despite these reservations, patients shouldn’t be afraid to ask their doctors whether better care is available elsewhere.
Related posts:
- Free care morally obligated?
- How HIPAA harms patients
- When patients extort hospitals
- A surgeon dumps post-op patients to hospitalists
- Should doctors talk politics with patients?
- My take: CPOE, VistA, doctor rating websites
- Are physician-patients held to a higher standard?
{ 2 comments }
I work in the VA and I am more than willing to refer people with the means (ie backup private insurance) outside the gigantic VA waitlist void.
An example:
The waitlist for joint replacement? Two years and you must not smoke or have a BMI >33 or you won't even make the list.
As a surgeon, I am finding it increasingly difficult to refer patients to tertiary care facilities for these complex surgeries that I do not perform often( and no longer want to perform). The reimbusement is so poor from Medicare and the risk of complcations so great, that many “centers of excellance” no longer want these patients either.
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