The Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees appointed a former federal prosecutor to lead its investigation into patient safety issues at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital's Heart Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., according to the Tampa Bay Times.
F. Joseph Warin and his team "will review the events that led Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital to suspend heart surgeries at the Heart Institute and will report their findings to a special committee of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Board of Trustees no later than May of this year," the health system said.
The health system also said it would name an independent monitor at All Children's to "make sure that the hospital is being held accountable for taking corrective action where necessary" after the review is finished.
The announcement included a video of Johns Hopkins Health System President Kevin Sowers offering apologies to the community, referring providers and hospital staff.
The Tampa Bay Times first publicized safety issues in the All Children's heart surgery program in late November. A Times investigation found the mortality rate for heart surgery patients tripled from 2015 to 2017, and was the highest for any Florida heart surgery program in the last 10 years.
Six senior officials left the hospital after the report's release, including the CEO, three vice presidents and two surgeons who held leadership positions in the Heart Institute. A seventh official stepped down from his role as chief of surgery but is still employed at the hospital.