‘I think it’s grave.’ Reaction to Jackson suspending adult heart transplant program

Jackson Health System’s abrupt suspension of its adult heart transplant program took South Florida by surprise because of its stellar reputation.

Stuart Grossman, who has headed a major South Florida personal-injury and medical-malpractice law firm for decades, said the admission by Jackson that it “voluntarily stopped” the program suggests that “something is very wrong.”

“I think it’s grave. I think it’s something very bad,” Grossman told the Miami Herald. “Please don’t tell me there’s no smoke or fire when you voluntarily shut down a transplant program.”

On Tuesday evening, Jackson Health confirmed to the Herald in an email it had “voluntarily placed its adult heart transplant program on temporary inactive status” while it undergoes “an in-depth review of our care.”

Jackson Health and UHealth, the University of Miami health system, jointly operate the Miami Transplant Institute, which opened in 1970 and is considered one of the top transplant centers in the country. It is on Jackson’s main Miami campus and relies on University of Miami medical-school doctors to provide care.

Jackson did not specify when the Institute would reopen; it said it was working to transfer patients to other transplant centers.

“We will reinstate the program after a thorough assessment and a clear plan to recruit additional world-class clinicians in the same way we have built globally admired transplant programs for other organs,” Jackson said in the emailed statement. “Our pediatric heart transplant program is not affected by this decision, nor is our program to provide mechanical heart devices. The quality of care and personal experience of our patients, families, donors, and clinicians are our guiding principles for this partnership between Jackson

Health System and UHealth-University of Miami Health System.”

A spokeswoman said Jackson Health would not comment beyond a statement released Tuesday to the Herald. UHealth declined to comment.

Jackson did not disclose the reason for the closure, which has left transplant patients scheduled for procedures in the lurch. It’s unusual for hospitals to suspend or pause their transplant programs, with more than 100,000 people waiting for life-saving organs in the United States.

PUBLIC HEALTH TRUST BOARD DID NOT DISCUSS SUSPENSION

Walter T. Richardson — chair of the Public Health

Trust, the board overseeing Jackson Health System — said Wednesday in an interview with the Herald he became aware of the Institute’s decision to suspend the program before the Herald published a story on the temporary closure Tuesday evening.

“I learned about it before,” Richardson said but declined to say exactly when he was informed by Jackson Health officials.

Richardson also said the eight-member Public Health Trust did not meet as a board to discuss the suspension of the adult heart transplant program.

“The board did not meet in reference to this matter,” he told the Herald. “It’s never been discussed by the board.”

Court records in Miami-Dade revealed no medical-malpractice cases brought against Jackson or UM for alleged negligence during transplant procedures, records show.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the federal government wants to overhaul the

U.S. organ transplant system, which has been run by the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) for nearly four decades. Under UNOS, which has an annual $6.5 million contract with the federal Health Resources and Service Administration, organs have been discarded, damaged or not collected and “poor performers face little accountability,” the Post reported.

A team from UNOS will be investigating the Miami Transplant Institute.