Some people suffering from serious heart problems may fare better if they are treated when their doctors are out of the office.
A new study shows that 59 percent of cardiac arrest patients admitted to teaching hospitals died within 30 days when their doctors were away at cardiology conferences; 69 percent died when doctors were in the office. Patients suffering from heart failure had similar outcomes. The results, which appear December 22 in JAMA Internal Medicine, show that high-risk patients have fewer intensive procedures when their doctors are away, suggesting such procedures may do more harm than good.
