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The Brian Lehrer Show / June 02, 2008 / More or Less

More or Less

Monday, June 02, 2008

A recent study that says private hospitals provide more aggressive care to dying patients than public ones. We take a look at end-of-life care with Dr. John Santa, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center.

Read the Consumer Reports article, "Too much treatment?: Aggressive medical care can lead to more pain with no gain"


Comments

  • [1] mc from Brooklyn June 02, 2008 - 09:27AM

    Check out recent research done by the Dartmouth Medical School. Hospitals where everyone is on salary rather than paid by the procedure are better at holding costs down and the medical outcomes do not seem to be any worse, indeed, in some cases like the Mayo Clinic, they are better.
  • [2] jw from Bronx, NY June 02, 2008 - 10:36AM

    while I agree with the previous comment that salaried hospitals are better at holding cost down, there is the opposite spectrum where the staff physicians have less incentive to do more because it does not translate into more $$ and just adds liability for every procedure that could go wrong.

    Having said that, I do firmly believe that the extra cost spent on end of life care in private hospital do not necessarily translate into better outcome. It is simply a matter of economics; the more procedures are done, the more the providers can bill (if the patient has insurance).


  • [3] hjs from 11211 June 02, 2008 - 11:20AM

    i would like to say the USA ranks 180/222 regarding infant mortality, making it one of the lowest of the developing countries.
  • [4] norman from nyc June 02, 2008 - 11:52AM

    Consumer Reports used to support a single payer system.

    Canada monitors their treatments very carefully for quality and cost/benefits.

    Does Dr. Santa think that Canada does a better job?

    Does he support a single-payer system?


  • [5] Born in DC from NYC June 02, 2008 - 11:57AM

    NY STATE HAS PATIENTS RIGHTS. WE CHOOSE. HOW MUCH AGRESSIVE CARE HAS TO DO WITH PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES?
  • [6] Gene June 02, 2008 - 11:58AM

    Arthur Levin of the Center for Medical Consumers has fought for _decades_ to get this kind of information on hosptitals out. The interested lobbies have kept information on doctors' and hospitals' records away from the public.
  • [7] mc from Brooklyn June 02, 2008 - 02:59PM

    @#2

    If we don't get a handle on this you can kiss health care reform good-bye.

This thread is closed.


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