HOUSTON -- Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center reactivated its heart transplant surgery program after placing it on a 14-day inactive status, a spokesman announced Friday.
The hospital voluntarily suspending its heart-transplant surgeries to complete a medical review of two recent deaths.
Baylor St. Luke’s says during the temporary pause, "the hospital completed medical reviews of two recent mortalities, reorganized the transplant surgery team, and instituted improvements designed to strengthen the program. The reactivation allows medical teams to accept donor hearts for transplant. "
“After reviewing two recent cases and taking steps to strengthen the heart transplant team, we are confident that the program is ready to move forward and serve the critically ill patients and their families who have placed their trust in us,” said Doug Lawson, CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives Texas Division. “Our unwavering focus is always to ensure our patients receive the best possible medical care, and in ways that reflect our core values of reverence, integrity, compassion, and excellence.”
Earlier this week Judy Kveton, whose husband died after a heart transplant at the hospital in 2017, told CBS News she is still looking for answers. She says the surgeon initially told her the operation went well. Instead, her 64-year-old husband needed six more surgeries over the next week and never woke up.
More information released by the hospital Friday:
During the last two weeks, the hospital:
• Completed a medical review of two recent patient deaths that did not identify systemic issues related to the quality of the program;
• Expanded the heart transplant team role of co-chief of adult cardiac surgery Dr. Gabriel Loor, who specializes in cardiothoracic transplants;
• Refined the criteria for the patient selection process; and
• Reorganized the multidisciplinary approach to patient care.
“Baylor St. Luke’s believes strongly that improvement is a never-ending process,” added Dr. Paul Klotman, President and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine. “Although this voluntary pause in the program is complete, we will continue to recruit additional surgical and clinical expertise, refine procedures and practices, and implement improvements as soon as we identify opportunities.”
A special transplant committee, authorized by the Baylor St. Luke’s Board of Directors, has already started to explore additional processes and changes that could further improve the heart transplant program. Their work will continue into next year. They will also work to ensure that the hospital effectively and transparently communicates with patients and their families.
The hospital is notifying all transplant patients of the reactivation. More than 60 patients are currently qualified on Baylor St. Luke’s candidate list awaiting donor hearts for transplant.