The fourth and final cardiologist on Oregon’s sole heart transplant team announced her resignation this Wednesday, leaving Oregon Health & Science University—and the state as a whole—without a cardiologist who’s qualified to perform heart transplants, the Oregonian reported.
The physician’s announcement came just days after OHSU announced it would suspend its heart transplant services for at least two weeks following the resignation of three of its four transplant team members. The remaining cardiologist was expected to be on call to care for patients who’d recently received a new heart, though the program announced earlier this week it would stop accepting donor hearts and evaluating new cases.
Renee Edwards, chief medical officer for OHSU Healthcare in Portland, told the Oregonian management plans to use the 14-day suspension period to try to recruit new physicians to the heart transplant team. For now, though, 30 patients remain on the waitlist—patients who will likely have to travel to Seattle or San Francisco for the surgery.
“It was not an easy decision to make as the only heart transplant center in Oregon,” Edwards told the paper. “But because our goal is to do the right thing, this pause is to ensure the care of our patients and look to the (recruitment) of additional providers.”
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.