California Pacific Medical Center suspends heart transplant program.

California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) in San Francisco announced on May 12 it is temporarily suspending its heart transplant program because of a shortage of surgeons. The shutdown required about 30 patients on its heart transplant list to seek their transplants at another institution.

Morris Flaum, MD, CPMC vice president of medical affairs, told the San Francisco Chronicle that a change in the nature of its doctor's cardiology practices prompted the suspension of the program, not a loss of physicians.

Flaum said CPMC hopes to recruit enough new cardiac surgeons to reopen the transplant program in 3 to 6 months. "We require additional surgical coverage, and we are actively recruiting additional support," he said.

CPMC had only 1 heart patient listed as a status one. That patient was transferred immediately to an unnamed hospital, the Chronicle reported. The other 29 patients were referred to the cardiac transplant programs at Stanford University Medical Center, the University of California, San Francisco, and a Sacramento-based program operated by Sutter Health, CPMC's parent corporation.

CPMC has set up a hot line to provide heart transplant patients with more information about developments in the program. The number is [phone].