Q. How do I know if my hospital is a good place to have heart surgery?

A. This is the age of information, and it is entirely appropriate to ask your surgeon his or her experience and results with the type of surgery proposed. For instance, all coronary bypass operations done in the State of California must be reported to the government and are published in an annual report. Many programs report their outcomes to the national Society of Thoracic Surgeons database and should know how they compare to other programs in the country. It is important to consider the types of patients that are operated at certain hospitals, and to know how you will be cared for after the surgery. Most surgeons would be very comfortable discussing these questions with a patient considering heart surgery.

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