I wonder what the doctor thinks of publishing risk adjusted statistics. That is, publishing the difference between expected and actual outcome.

That's not true ... after all, that would mean putting MBA type managers in charge of hospitals (like is being done all across the US) is going to lead to disastrously bad decisions as they will institute individual incentives. Giving those experienced doctors little choice : either refuse cases that might die ... or get fired.

Right, which is why some experienced doctors can be overly conservative. The ones that take up the hard cases are therefore penalized even more.

You see the same thing with lawyers. The ones with a 100% trial success rate are very choosy about which cases they accept or are more inclined to pressure clients to settle.

The phenomenon is real. Whether it exists at the heart of this study or is simply being used to excuse underperforming doctors....

That's sarcasm, right? Because that's what has happened, and been happening while healthcare in the US is treated as a for-profit enterprise.