Fort Worth hospital halts kidney transplants

[Clark]

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/30/3562217/texas-health-harris-methodist.html#tvg

Fort Worth hospital halts kidney transplants

Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth has voluntarily stopped kidney transplants because of staffing concerns raised by the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Network representatives have been at the hospital since Monday, examining whether it has enough surgeons to meet the needs of transplant patients. But hospital officials called the situation a "misperception" and said the facility is adequately staffed.
"There's this misunderstanding that we went a long stretch without enough surgeons, which is categorically untrue," said Dr. Joseph Prosser, vice president and chief quality officer.
The hospital typically has four surgeons on staff, but one left over the summer. Officials have hired a national recruiting firm to hire another. There have always been enough surgeons to provide care, Prosser said.
"We have wanted to grow the program for some time and we have been actively recruiting to bring in a fourth surgeon," he said.
For now, the hospital is listed as inactive and cannot take offers of transplants, but no additional information is available, said Anne Paschke, spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing. Each year, about 20 of the 245 transplant centers in the country become inactive.
The Fort Worth hospital, which has operated the program for more than two decades, performs 50 to 60 kidney transplants a year. Patients have been notified of the voluntary suspension and been given the option of seeking a transplant through another hospital, Prosser said. However, he said that after talking with network officials, he believes that the misunderstanding has been resolved and that the transplant program could reopen by next week.
"It is our hope and expectation that this misunderstanding will be corrected, UNOS will be satisfied and we will be up and running," Prosser said.

Jan Jarvis