Hospital pressures cardiologists to keep referring pediatric patients for surgery in-house despite disturbing mortality data

Pediatric cardiologists at the University of North Carolina Medical Center were alarmed by the high mortality rates of pediatric heart surgery patients at the center. When they expressed their concerns, they were told by administrators that if they stopped referring children to their surgery program, the hospital would lose money and the cardiologists could lose their jobs. UNC also refused to show the cardiologists their mortality statistics for cardiac surgeries, information that most other hospitals make public.

SOURCE: Ellen Gabler, The New York Times

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