Providing information, opinions on other cancer providers

An article in The New York Times this week stirred up a bit of controversy in my neck of the woods. (The article is here). This is a column discussing whether or not a doctor has an obligation to tell patients about places where they may be more likely to get better results (however that is defined) at a certain hospital, even if that is not the doctor's hospital. The discussion really revolves around surgeons and surgery outcomes, where volume of the surgeon and the center for cancer surgeries really can make a difference for some but not all tumor types.

However, when I have mentioned this to patients or their families who have asked, I have gotten myself into a lot of hot water. And there may be many reasons why one chooses a smaller hospital for their cancer surgery — proximity to family or to rehabilitation facilities, insurance coverage, etc, so mandating that certain cancer surgeries all be done at large volume centers does not seem to be the solution.

An ethicist is quoted in the article as saying that a physician providing an opinion about a different center or provider produces a conflict of interest, and I am inclined to agree. I'm interested in your perspective ... do you tell your patients about all the places they might have surgery, and do you discuss the data about high volume surgery centers, particularly as it concerns rectal, esophageal and pancreas cancers?