Elective pediatric heart surgeries have been cancelled by St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. This decision was taken after an investigation by CNN said the program had a three times higher mortality rate for open heart surgeries compared to the national average.

On Sunday, the hospital issued a press release in which it said that they were launching a 'comprehensive review' of the program, in which external experts are also involved. The hospital said in the press release, "We currently have no elective pediatric congenital cardiac surgery cases scheduled, and we do not intend to schedule any until we have completed our review".

The hospital did not tell about 'elective' in detail. And the hospital also did not say how much time their internal review will take and who would be conducting it. In 2012, Nneka Campbell's ten-month-old baby, Amelia, died after open heart surgery at St. Mary's. Campbell said that she is very happy and it's a victory for every baby and babies will now not die due to the surgeries performed at St. Mary's.

CNN wrote about the program, under which at least nine babies died since 2011 after open heart surgery. The story covered by it has led to a federal investigation into the hospital by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to data the hospital submitted to the state of Florida, many of the babies in the hospital's open heart surgery program have been Medicaid recipients.

The hospital did not stop doing surgeries on babies less than six months old even when last year, the chairman of a state-sponsored expert panel that reviewed the program advised them to stop.