BZ editor Michael Sauerbier comments on the new quality comparison for hospitals Photo: picture alliance / dpa topic service | Florian Schuh
By Michael Sauerbier
The new quality comparison for hospitals is overdue. Because it is vital.
We patients finally find out: Which hospital makes a lot of mistakes, and where have only a few complications?
The clinic and doctor lobby have prevented this insight for a long time. So far, rankings only show which clinic operates on which disease and how often.
The health ministers kept failures and deaths to themselves in order to protect small hospitals. But the politicians were sworn in for the well-being of the citizens, not that of the clinics.
5,000 stroke victims die every year because their hospital cannot provide them with optimal care.
If patients avoid bad clinics through comparison, they have to do better – or close inadequate departments. For the good of all of us.