Healthgrades.com

I have learned an invaluable lesson in life after suffering through my son's pain and death. You cannot depend on anyone else to "direct" you in the best care for you or your family. You must gather your own information, and form your "own" opinions. With the formation of P.E.N.N.river, that is one of my biggest goals, to provide parents with the information they need to form their own opinions, and at least set them on the path of deeper understanding when it comes to medical care for themselves, or their child.

Setting out to do just that, I paid for reports from healthgrades.com on 5 hospitals. Three hospitals, Brackenridge, St. David's, and Seton in Austin, TX and Methodist (where Penn's surgery was performed), and University hospitals in San Antonio, TX. The information I gathered from healthgrades, was disturbing, and makes me question, "what were we thinking" depending on other's opinions??

Just looking at the overall service ratings, which I believe is what you get when you apply for a free report from healthgrades.com, you cannot determine which hospital is the best out of the five, although, St. David's and Seton perform above average in Pulmonary and Orthopedic services respectively. But, none of the five report that any service area is poor.

Page 2, I constructed my own spreadsheet comparing data from 2007 Patient Safety Ratings. You can rate each hospital on different variables as "Worse" "Average" and "Better" than the standard. I devised a a system to score, basing Worse=0, Average=1, and Better=2. Seton, St. David's, Brackenridge, University and Methodist are listed in order of best to worst.

Seton (has 398 beds) who scored the best out of five on patient safety ratings, performed better than average on the following variables: Lack of pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, Absence of hip fracture after surgery, Avoidance of excessive bruising or bleeding as a consequence of a procedure or surgery, Adequate organ function and electrolyte and fluid balance after surgery, Lack of deep blood clots in the lungs or legs after surgery, and Avoidance of severe infection following surgery.

Methodist (has 1281 beds) who scored the worst out of five, scored "Worse" on the following: Prevention of death in a procedure where mortality is usually very low, Ability to diagnose and treat in time, Avoidance of excessive bruising or bleeding as a consequence of a procedure or surgery, Adequate organ function and electrolyte and fluid balance after surgery, Avoidance of respiratory failure following surgery, Avoidance of severe infection following surgery. Penn experienced mortality in a surgery where mortality is usually very low.

Overall, you get the picture. Knowledge is power. And, you and your loved ones should be informed. We were not.