‘Alarming’ number of patients died before OHSU heart transplant program shut down
Oregon Health & Science University Hospital saw an “alarming” number of patient deaths in 2017, the year before its heart transplant program ultimately crumbled, new data has revealed.
The Oregonian reported July 12 that OHSU’s transplant program lost twice the number of patients analysts had expected that year, with 4 of 10 treated individuals dying within the first month of their transplant. Recent statistics from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients suggest it would have been reasonable, given the degree of sickness and unique characteristics of OHSU’s heart patients, for fewer than two people to die in that window.
The registry data also estimated people who received a heart transplant at OHSU Hospital in the past two years were at a 67% higher risk of death during their first year of recovery compared to patients being treated at comparable programs. An April 2017 report revealed OHSU transplant patients were 14% more at risk of dying in the first year after a transplant than they’d been in years past.
OHSU Hospital shuttered its heart transplant program last August after all the program’s cardiologists resigned, causing the hospital to plummet in national rankings and forcing 20 people on the transplant waiting list to seek care in Washington or California instead.
According to the Oregonian, OHSU is slated to reactivate its transplant program this August.
Read more below:
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.