MVHS Announces Temporary Stoppage of Open Heart Surgery at Wynn Hospital

Mohawk Valley Health System has temporarily shut down its open heart surgery program at Wynn Hospital, officials announced Wednesday.

All other cardiac services and procedures, including cardiac catheterizations, angioplasties, stenting and minimally invasive cardiac procedures, remain open.

Anyone experiencing a pressing emergency, such as a possible heart attack, should still go to the hospital emergency department, where almost all heart attacks can still be treated. Patients with more serious problems requiring open heart surgery will be stabilized and then transferred to another hospital.

MVHS Announces Temporary Stoppage of Open Heart Surgery at Wynn Hospital

The health system suspended surgeries to bring in an outside organization to review the program to help strengthen it and reopen as quickly as possible, according to a health system release.

“Quality of care and patient safety are top priorities at MVHS and our flagship Wynn hospital,” the release said. “The MVHS leadership, medical staff and board of directors have focused on the strength and quality of open heart surgery at Wynn Hospital. »

Their concerns were echoed by New York State Department of Health staff who conducted a site review of the hospital this week and “expressed concerns regarding the open heart surgery program,” it said. the press release.

The statement made no further mention of what specifically triggered the concerns and led to the review.

Surgeons perform on average about one open-heart surgery per week, authorities said. No patients have yet had to be transferred, a spokeswoman confirmed.

The health system is working with other area providers to ensure that all patients requiring open heart surgery receive appropriate care, officials said.

Surgeons have been performing open-heart surgery in Utica since 1997, when St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare, not yet affiliated with MVHS, established the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute. Open-heart surgeries were performed at St. Elizabeth’s, and as part of the agreement, all babies were then born at Faxton St. Luke’s.