Hospital halts cardiac surgeries
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A Catholic hospital is suspending open-heart surgeries while the state investigates a rash of postoperative infections, officials said.
The California Department of Public Health has recommended that Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno stop performing the surgeries.
Last year, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked into bacterial infections that sickened at least a dozen Saint Agnes heart surgery patients and may have contributed to two deaths.
A hospital spokeswoman said the new infections happened in the first three months of this year. The hospital is still performing emergency heart surgeries, and hopes to have the problem resolved soon.
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