Disclosure is healthy

Disclosure is healthy

December 01, 2007

Following a year-long investigation by the Star into medical secrecy, major hospitals across Canada have released statistics on their death rates, a move that hopefully will be expanded and will prompt hospital administrators to examine their practices and order immediate improvements in their facilities.

The release of hospital standardized mortality rates for 85 large acute-care hospitals and 42 health regions in Canada was long overdue. The Canadian Institute for Health Information has been collecting the data for many years. But unlike the United Kingdom and the United States, until now the agency kept the information secret from the public, releasing it only to hospital officials.

While the numbers show a troubling range in rates across the Greater Toronto Area, they belie the notion that comparing hospitals is unfair because big teaching hospitals often are forced to handle the most serious medical cases. In fact, the University Health Network, one of the biggest teaching centres in the country, which includes Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital, has the lowest death rate in the Toronto region.

Only Humber Regional Hospital refused to release the data, citing "concerns" with the methodology. But starting in April, all Ontario hospitals will be required by law to release their quality and safety data in five key areas, including death and infection rates.

These are good first steps. But ultimately, hospitals should be treated like other publicly funded institutions and come under Freedom of Information legislation, forcing disclosure of all relevant health data. And Ontario should give its ombudsman the power to investigate complaints against hospitals as all other provinces have done.

Medical secrecy is not a right. Rather, Ontarians have a right to know how hospitals are performing and if their taxes are being spent wisely.

 
 

Pasted from <http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/281510>