Transfers to a Public Hospital

To the Editor: The article "Transfers to a Public Hospital" in the February 27 issue* is a unique and potentially very important contribution to the literature; however, the absence of discussion of several essential methodologic and data details prevents adequate assessment of this study. The difference between transferred patients and those who are not transferred may represent differences in the criteria for admission to a public hospital or an inappropriate comparison between emergency patients (i.e., transferred patients) and all those admitted to a medical service, including those admitted electively and for diagnostic purposes. A more meaningful comparison would be that . . . No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.