Demanding that hospitals release lists of every superbug they find within their walls, however, as many transparency advocates want, is not the answer. Compelling a world-class hospital like Massachusetts General Hospital, where I saw my first superbug as a medical student, to reveal a microbe list would only freak patients out. It wouldn’t explain where the microbes came from, whether any patients were infected, and how they were cured. In a worst-case scenario, more transparency could lead to patients avoiding medical care out of a misplaced fear of encountering drug-resistant bacteria. This would do everyone a disservice: Patients wouldn’t receive optimal care and superbugs would multiply.

Source: New York Times May 20, 2019 15:56 UTC