Penn State Health has chosen to temporarily pause kidney transplants at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center for two weeks following meetings this week with representatives from UNOS (The United Network for Organ Sharing). This decision follows the recent voluntary pause of liver transplants at Hershey Medical Center.
We are taking this action while we work with UNOS to review the current organizational structure of our liver and kidney programs.
We are working to notify patients currently on our kidney transplant list of this decision and will help patients who may wish to transfer to other transplant programs or co-list with another program to do so promptly.
The kidney and liver transplant programs have a 100% survival rate for patients who underwent transplants since reactivation in 2023. The voluntary pause of these two programs does not affect other Penn State Health transplant programs. Our heart, stem cell and bone marrow transplant programs operate as usual.
Penn State Health will continue providing post-transplant care for patients who have already received a kidney or liver transplant at Penn State Health. We continue to work closely with UNOS during this review process, keeping in mind that patients’ needs and safety are our first priority.