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Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center is restarting its heart transplant program. The Houston hospital just announced that decision this morning.
It comes after Baylor St. Luke's temporarily suspended the program for two weeks to review it. The program was at the center of a report last month that revealed the world-renowned heart transplant program had a high number of patient complications in recent years.
For the latest, Charles Ornstein, editor with ProPublica joins Houston Matters host Craig Cohen to discuss the significance for the future of St. Luke's heart transplant program.
Baylor College of Medicine's President and CEO, Dr. Paul Klotman, says:
“Baylor St. Luke's believes strongly that improvement is a never-ending process. 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."