Secondary Data Exercise #1

A Regional Trauma Center (which encourages the surrounding hospitals to refer patients with serious injuries to it for expert care) is seeking additional funds from next year’s health budget for more equipment and staff. A local politician (who would rather spend such money on a new hospital named after his father) criticizes this request for additional resources by claming that Regional Trauma Centers do not, in fact, save lives, and he submits the following data to back up his claim.

Severity of trauma	surrounding hospitals		regional trauma center
	# of cases	# of deaths	# of cases	# of deaths
Mild	3734	37	687	3
Moderate	1887	94	1238	37
Severe	1645	327	1429	172
Total	7266	458	3354	212
Case-fatality rate	458/7266	= 6.3%	212/3354	= 6.3%

You are asked for your opinion on these data. How should you respond?