revealed that some doctors who did large numbers of surgeries had more than five times the death rates other doctors had. Other studies have made similar findings. Doctor-to-Doctor quality differences mean that choosing the wrong doctor might expose you to surgery, powerful drugs, or other treatments that will do you no good, might do you lasting harm, and will certainly contribute to discomfort and inconvenience. By choosing the wrong doctor, you might also miss out on a treatment that could cure a disease or repair an injury, or you might get the treatment you need but have it performed so badly that it does you no good. In short, choice of the wrong doctor can result in needless suffering, or even death. In this book, you get the information you need to choose the right doctors. The book is a special publication of the Center for the Study of Services, a nonprofit research organization widely respected for 25 years of producing consumer-oriented evaluations of hospitals, health plans, and other health care providers.

Hide more