St. Mary’s Medical Center Center has closed their Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery Program.
The statement from the hospital was released Monday afternoon.
St. Mary’s hospital faced major scrutiny following a CNN investigation into the high surgical death rates of babies came to light back in June. CNN reported the mortality rate for babies having open heart surgery at St. Mary’s Medical Center was three times the national average from 2011-2013.
Part of a statement from St Mary’s reads: We are proud of the work that has been done and the lives that have been saved. This is the decision of the hospital and not based on a decision or recommendation by the State of Florida or any regulatory agency. The inaccurate media reports on our program have made it significantly more challenging to build sustainable volume in our program.
