[E. Pluribus Unum]

Probably because the public hospitals send them home to die, but the private hospitals keep them even though they are dying.

[Nitro]

You forgot to mention why the Private hospitals keep the dead!

So they can harvest and sell the organs...

nobody wants the piano!!

[Hunble]

Did they include the V.A. Hospitals in this servey?

[Jesse]

Garbage in, garbage out. It's fairly apparent that the authors have a drum to beat about socialized medicine, then went out on a fishing expedition to try and find statistics to fit their preconceptions. There are a lot of reasons mortality might be higher in private hospitals, among which are sicker patients going to private hospitals, less sick patients admitted and kept longer in public hospitals because of social reasons. I can tell you, having worked in both kinds of hospitals, the bureaucracy makes delivering care frustrating, but I will take my chances in a for profit facility every time. I have no problem with paying more money to places which need to maintain a good reputation and have an incentive to do a good job...making money. In many public hosptials, there is little incentive except to show up among the ancillary staff.