Survival of newborns with abdominal holes differs according to hospital

A newborn’s chance for surviving a low-risk version of a condition called gastroschisis varies greatly by hospital, according to a study by Johns Hopkins surgeons. Babies with the condition have a hole in their abdomen near the umbilical cord. The uncomplicated variant of the condition, where the hole is the only abdominal anomaly, is fairly easy to repair, and 97 percent of babies survive it. However the Hopkins findings suggest that in some hospitals, far fewer babies who should survive the condition after treatment actually do. Some hospitals had death rates three to five times the national average.