The article points to a new report released by the Dartmouth Atlas Project that looks at the variations in surgical rates at hospitals from across the country. The report, The Seattle Times notes, shows that the variations also reflect physician training and preferences.
The study points out that many patients “are not even aware that the decision about elective surgery is actually a choice and that it should be theirs to make. Instead, they routinely delegate such important, even life-altering decisions to their clinicians in the belief that ‘the doctor knows best,’” the newspaper reports.
Read the full story, published 12/13/12 by The Seattle Times.