Doctors are trying to kill you!

(haha, no they're not)
I heard about this study earlier this year…maybe on Freakonomics?  It sounds like something they'd cover.

Anyway, the study investigated patient outcomes at cardiovascular hospitals.  Patients at the best hospitals in the USA did better when the senior cardiologists were not at the hospital.

It's a pretty clever study.  Using 10 years of data containing tens of thousands of records, they were able to compare cardiovascular outcomes while senior cardiologists were at major national cardiology meetings to the outcomes when they were at the hospital.

It's also interesting to note that patients cared for at teaching hospitals did significantly better than those cared for in community hospitals.

Some more discussion of the study here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/opinion/sunday/are-good-doctors-bad-for-your-health.html

Mortality Patterns Among Patients With Acute Cardiovascular Conditions
High-risk patients with heart failure and cardiac arrest hospitalized in teaching hospitals had lower 30-day mortality when admitted during dates of national cardiology meetings. High-risk patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to teaching hospitals during meetings were less likely to…

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