Summa closes kidney center at City Hospital

Summa closes kidney center at City Hospital

Most patients to transfer to Cleveland hospitals as only transplant program in Akron shuts down

By Cheryl Powell
Beacon Journal medical writer

Published on Monday, Sep 01, 2008

Summa Health System is closing Akron's only kidney transplant program after half the center's staff — including the program coordinator — quit in the past year.

Late last week, the hospital began notifying the center's estimated 170 patients who are awaiting transplants that the program housed in Summa's Akron City Hospital shut down on Friday.

The renal transplant center's remaining four staff members are helping transfer patients to other programs, primarily those located inCleveland, said Dr. William Fallon, chairman of Summa's Department of Surgery.

''We remain committed to providing quality care to everyone we take care of, even if we can't deliver it personally on our own campus,'' Fallon said.

There are 160 patients from Summa's transplant program on the national waiting list for a donor kidney, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a nonprofit based in Richmond, Va., that runs the nation's organ procurement and transplantation network.

Another 10 or fewer patients were planning to undergo transplant surgery using a kidney from a living donor, Fallon said.

Patients will keep their current position on the national transplant waiting list, even though they must switch to a new center, UNOS spokesman Joel Newman said.

Within the past year, five key staff members at the transplant center left Summa ''for a variety of circumstances'' and replacements couldn't be found, Fallon said.

''When you operate a transplant program, there are certain, key individuals you are expected to have in place in order to take care of the complex needs of these patients,'' he said. ''That includes coordinators, dietitians, nutritionists, people who are involved with the living-related program, people in the donated program, people who do outreach in the dialysis center. . . . These people are as rare as hen's teeth. ''

The decision to close the program was based on staffing concerns, not financial issues, Fallon said.

Summa will continue to offer dialysis for kidney failure patients at City Hospital, Fallon said. In addition, Summa will continue removing organs from deceased donors for transplantation at other centers.

The decision to shutter the program comes after several tumultuous years for the center.

Summa shut down the program for a year in 2003 after severing its ties with a part-time transplant surgeon from the Cleveland Clinic.

The program was in jeopardy of permanently closing that year when a kidney transplant specialist from India recruited by Summa had problems getting a special visa from the federal government to practice medicine in the United States.

After those issues were fixed, kidney transplants surgery resumed at City Hospital in 2004.

Dr. Santosh Potdar then was recruited to head the transplant center in early 2007 after the Indian surgeon left Summa to work in Cleveland.

At the time, Summa planned to open regional clinics and eventually expand services to include liver and kidney-pancreas transplants, as well as kidney transplants for children.

Potdar continues as a surgeon on Summa's staff, Fallon said.

The need for kidney transplants is expected to grow as more people are being diagnosed with diabetes, a leading cause of kidney failure.

Summa doesn't have a plan to relaunch the transplant program, at least in the near future, Fallon said.

''In my mind,'' he said, ''it's not compatible with the maturation of a system such as ours that we wouldn't, at some point, want to look at this issue and make a decision to add this service.''

Summa's transplant program has been serving fewer patients than larger, more established centers in Cleveland.

Summa's center performed 36 kidney transplants — 25 with donor organs and 11 from living donors — in 2007, according to reports from UNOS.

In comparison, the Cleveland Clinic performed 131 kidney transplants last year. Likewise, University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland performed 61 kidney transplants.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.

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