ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Lawmakers want to know why state and federal health investigators missed warning signs about problems in the heart surgery program at a Florida children's hospital.
The Tampa Bay Times reports the state Agency for Health Care Administration cited Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital for not properly disclosing two serious medical errors. But it didn't impose any fines or act on subsequent warnings.
The newspaper says federal investigators performed a review of transplants but left a broader review up to a private organization that keeps the details of its inspections secret.
A Times analysis shows the death rate for heart surgery patients at All Children's tripled between 2015 and 2017. The hospital's Heart Institute performed worse in 2017 than any pediatric heart surgery program in Florida had in the past decade.
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