A baby who underwent heart surgery at the St. Mary’s Medical Center in Florida passed away this Tuesday, according to CNN. The infant was the ninth to die during a heart surgery procedure since the program began in 2011.
An investigation into the program found that between 2011 and 2013, open-heart surgeries carried a 12.5 percent mortality rate for infants, which is three times the national average for similar procedures.
St. Mary’s CEO Davie Carbone sent a letter to employees about CNN’s pending investigation, expressing his support for the program in question as well as its lead heart surgeon, Dr. Michael Black.
While the inexplicably high mortality rate has certain parents outraged with the hospital, Carbone wrote that many of the patients treated through the program had been suffering from “severe life-threatening conditions, and it is impossible to eliminate the risk of mortality.”
The Florida Department of Health sent a team of heart surgeons to St. Mary’s last April in order to review the procedures of the children’s heart surgery program. Dr. Jeffrey Jacobs, a professor of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins University, recommended that St. Mary’s doctors stop doing heart surgeries on infants younger than 6 months.
The infant who passed away this Tuesday was named Davi Ricardo Brandao, and was only a few weeks old when he underwent surgery for a defect called truncus arteriosus in March. According to his mother, Davi needed an additional surgery later on in the month. He died two months after the second surgery.
Carbone claims that St. Mary’s mortality rate is consistent with national averages, though he has declined to release any specific data about the hospital’s rate.
Dr. Jacobs noted that St. Mary’s was doing too few heart surgeries to develop the necessary skills to be good at it. In 2013, the hospital only performed 23 pediatric heart surgeries. Most hospitals perform in excess of 100 such procedures each year.
It seems as though there is something fishy going on at St. Mary’s in Florida, but until further data is released we cannot say for sure.
An investigation into the program found that between 2011 and 2013, open-heart surgeries carried a 12.5 percent mortality rate for infants, which is three times the national average for similar procedures.
St. Mary’s CEO Davie Carbone sent a letter to employees about CNN’s pending investigation, expressing his support for the program in question as well as its lead heart surgeon, Dr. Michael Black.
While the inexplicably high mortality rate has certain parents outraged with the hospital, Carbone wrote that many of the patients treated through the program had been suffering from “severe life-threatening conditions, and it is impossible to eliminate the risk of mortality.”
The Florida Department of Health sent a team of heart surgeons to St. Mary’s last April in order to review the procedures of the children’s heart surgery program. Dr. Jeffrey Jacobs, a professor of cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins University, recommended that St. Mary’s doctors stop doing heart surgeries on infants younger than 6 months.
The infant who passed away this Tuesday was named Davi Ricardo Brandao, and was only a few weeks old when he underwent surgery for a defect called truncus arteriosus in March. According to his mother, Davi needed an additional surgery later on in the month. He died two months after the second surgery.
Carbone claims that St. Mary’s mortality rate is consistent with national averages, though he has declined to release any specific data about the hospital’s rate.
Dr. Jacobs noted that St. Mary’s was doing too few heart surgeries to develop the necessary skills to be good at it. In 2013, the hospital only performed 23 pediatric heart surgeries. Most hospitals perform in excess of 100 such procedures each year.
It seems as though there is something fishy going on at St. Mary’s in Florida, but until further data is released we cannot say for sure.
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