Death from treatable serious complications

Range: 167‑49. The lower the better.

This measure refers to surgical patients who died after developing serious complications that could have been treated. There is always a risk of serious complication during or after surgery. Hospitals with trained, well organized, and efficient staff identify these complications quickly and treat them aggressively. Some deaths may be unavoidable, but higher death rates due to complications may be a sign that patients were not watched closely enough after surgery, or that effective action was not taken to ensure patient safety.