Mortality as a measure of quality: implications for palliative and end-of-life care.
Holloway RG, Quill TE. Mortality as a measure of quality: implications for palliative and end-of-life care. JAMA. 2007;298(7):802-804.
Public reporting of mortality indicators forces hospitals to evaluate each death as a potentially poor outcome. This commentary discusses the tension between delivering high quality palliative care and the often paradoxical increase in mortality.