Oregon’s only heart transplant program ends indefinitely

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The only Oregon hospital to offer heart transplants is ending its program indefinitely, just days after announcing it would suspend the program for 14 days to regroup.

Oregon Health & Science University has lost all four of the doctors on the heart transplant team and can no longer perform the operations or provide post-operative care.

The Portland hospital said Friday that it is aggressively recruiting heart transplant specialists to restart its 32-year-old program but cannot provide any timeline.

All 20 patients that were on the transplant waitlist have either been transferred to other medical centers or have opted to stay with OHSU.

The University of Washington says it has accepted eight patients to its program.

The hospital also is evaluating 327 post-transplant patients to see how to meet their needs.