Too many patients aren't getting the right care needed to keep them safe. Consumers Union released a report yesterday that found, at a minimum, almost 100,000 patients were left vulnerable to developing surgical infections during the year studied because hospitals failed to follow practices proven to reduce the risk of infection.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than 290,000 surgical site infections (SSI) occur in U.S. hospitals each year, in 2 out of every 100 surgeries, accounting for 20 percent of all hospital-acquired infections. A CDC review of data from 2002 found that 8,205 deaths were associated with surgical site infections. An estimated 77 percent of deaths in patients with SSI are directly attributable to the infection.

Hospitals should do three key things to keep you from getting a deadly infection after surgery. Now you can check our interactive map to see how your local hospitals perform, and how you state is doing overall. Look up your hospital and your state!