Heart failure patients need team help: MD (Canada)

"The 20 per cent of heart failure patients who don't see a doctor soon after leaving the hospital have a higher likelihood of dying within a year, a Canadian study indicates. Despite the seriousness of the condition, one in five heart failure patients fail to see a family doctor within 30 days of discharge from the emergency department (ED), which can lead to more visits to the hospital, according to a study in Tuesday's online issue of the journal Circulation. Distinct from sudden heart attacks or cardiac arrest, heart failure is defined as a heart's inability to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. The study looked at data for 10,599 patients who visited emergency departments in Ontario between April 2004 and March 2007