Hightower Lowdown

What is one of the most dangerous things you can do when you get seriously ill? Go to the hospital.

The dark little secret of today's hospitals is that they kill nearly 90,000 Americans a year, mostly from hospital infections, says the Centers for Disease Control. That's more than die from auto accidents and homicides combined. About two million patients a year catch infections from their hospitals- one out of every 20 people who go in.

Infections could be cut by more than half if all medical personnel washed their hands regularly, preferably with alcohol handrubs-but this costs money, which many hospitals are not keen to spend.

How are you to know the good hospitals from the bad? You can't, because hospitals don't have to reveal their infection rates. Now some states are pushing mandatory disclosure laws, but hospital lobbyists are pushing a bill in Congress setting up a voluntary-and secret -reporting system.

The Consumers Union is fighting for full disclosure. Join them at StopHospitalInfections.org.