Nemours Children’s Hospital received initial approval from the state today to establish a lung transplant program at its new Cardiac Center.
The hospital’s Certificate of Need applications to establish a heart transplant program and a heart/lung transplant program were denied.
“This pediatric transplant program will be the first in the region, allowing families access to world-class specialized care,” said Dana Bledsoe, president of Nemours Children’s Hospital, in a statement. “The director of the program will be Dr. Peter Wearden, an international leader in transplantation and the development of artificial organs for children.”
But some worry that having too many programs vying to perform such complex procedures on a limited patient pool will reduce everyone’s caseload and can lead to lower quality of care.
There are currently two other programs in the state that perform pediatric lung transplant surgeries: UF Health Shands Hospital and Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Since 2010, there have been a maximum of two lung transplantations each year in children 17 and under years old in Florida. Last year, UF Health Shands and Jackson Memorial performed one lung pediatric lung transplantation each.
Critics also say what’s limiting transplantations is the number of available organs, not the number of programs.
State data shows that the majority of the people who are waiting for a lung transplant are 18 years and older. There’s currently one person under the age of 18 awaiting a lung transplant in Florida.
nmiller@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5158, @naseemmiller
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UPDATES:
11:15 a.m.: This article was updated with new comments from Nemours. This article was originally published at 9:55 a.m.
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