OHSU Heart Transplant Program Loses Last Doctor

PORTLAND, OR – More bad news for the heart transplant program at Oregon Health & Sciences University. All four heart cardiologists have now left or announced that they are leaving the program.

The last ones will be gone as of September 30.

The defections forced the hospital this week to announce that they were suspending the program for two weeks, though they added that it could last longer.

During the suspension, the hospital is not evaluating any patients for admittance to the program, not performing any heart transplants, not accepting any donated hearts.

The hospital's kidney, liver, and pancreas transplant programs are not affected.

OHSU says that there are currently 20 patients on the wait list as well as five candidates who are immediately affected.

There are also 327 post-transplant patients receiving some level of post-operative care.

"These patients are our most important priority right now," a spokeswoman for OHSU told Patch. "We are actively developing care plans that best meet their medical needs and individual circumstances.

"OHSU has been working with multiple transplant centers around the country in accordance with our patients’ preferences, including the University of Washington, and we have several mechanisms in place to expedite their transition."

The spokeswoman told Patch that the hospital is working actively to rebuild the program but cannot comment on the status of any candidates until contracts are signed.

The program, which started in 1985, was the location of nearly 50 transplants over the past two years. There are nearly 4,000 people around the United States currently waiting for a heart transplant.

OHSU has one of the larger demands for heart transplants in the country. As of June 2017, there were 30 people on the waiting list. Approximately 15 percent of people on OHSU's waiting list died before they were able to receive a transplant.

That's about twice the rate nationwide.

There are two heart transplant centers in Washington – in Spokane and Seattle.

The hospital has notified the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the organ donation and transplant system as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of its decision to suspend the program.

Photo via OHSU.