[DrScump]

Mortality rate is a poor metric.

First, it "penalizes" doctors/hospitals that take on the most severe cases. There is no objective metric for "we saved X people who would have died at an average facility." Do you want a metric that would encourage a doctor/hospital to deny an aggressive procedure for fear of taking a hit in its mortality metrics?

Secondly, it ignores ongoing quality of life. A cardiac surgery can have a later death that does not count in its mortality rate, even if it was due to a complication caused by, or significantly contributed to, by inferior medicine.

[epmaybe]

Oh, I'm in agreement, and should have made my point about this more clear. The reason I brought it up at all is that there are other external factors that influence a patients decision, or lack thereof, in choosing a CT surgeon for their non urgent (or emergency I guess, but there's even less choice there) procedure.