Relaxation of heart procedure rules endangers patients
Two years ago, New Jersey began deregulating angioplasty. The state wants to eliminate the requirement of having on-site cardiac surgery available to allow as many as 12 community hospitals to perform the profitable cardiac procedure. It's part of an experiment to see if more patients will die...
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| Published in | The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Newspaper Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Bergen County, N.J
North Jersey Media Group Inc
20.07.2008
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Two years ago, New Jersey began deregulating angioplasty. The state wants to eliminate the requirement of having on-site cardiac surgery available to allow as many as 12 community hospitals to perform the profitable cardiac procedure. It's part of an experiment to see if more patients will die at hospitals without cardiac surgical backup. That alone seems incredible, but that is exactly the experiment. In angioplasty, a catheter is inserted into the body and a balloon tip, or stent, is used to open a blocked cardiac artery. The experiment seeks to answer whether elective angioplasty, a scheduled procedure, can be safely done at hospitals that do not offer cardiac surgery in case something bad happens. The Department of Health and Senior Services seems determined to approve extension of the angioplasty experiment, despite powerful evidence that allowing community hospitals without the capacity to do it well consistently would be a serious mistake. New Jersey has no need for more elective angioplasty facilities. Eighteen hospitals meet all requirements. Everyone in New Jersey is within a short drive of a hospital that performs safe elective angioplasty with on-site cardiac surgical teams. |
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