For decades, Texas transplant surgeon Dr. J. Steve Bynon Jr. has received accolades and national recognition for his work, including helping to enforce professional standards in the nation's vast organ transplant system. has gained fame.
But authorities now suspect Dr. Bynon secretly manipulated government databases to disqualify some of his patients from receiving new liver transplants, potentially leaving them without life-saving treatment. We're investigating.
Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center in Houston, where Dr. Bynon oversaw both liver and kidney transplant programs, abruptly shut down those programs last week while it investigated the allegations.
On Thursday, the University of Texas Medical Center, a teaching hospital, announced in a statement that doctors in the liver transplant program approved the changes to patient records. The hospital said this effectively ruled out a transplant. Officials familiar with the investigation identified the doctor as Dr. Bynon. The doctor was employed by the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and had been contracted to lead Memorial Hermann's abdominal transplant program since 2011.
It's unclear what motivated Dr. Bynon. Reached by phone Thursday, he directed his questions to UTHealth Houston. He denied admitting to falsifying records.
On Friday, the day this article was published online, UT Health Houston issued a statement to the media defending Dr. Bynon as an “extraordinarily talented and compassionate physician and a pioneer in abdominal organ transplantation.” The survival rate for Dr. Bynon's transplant patients is among the highest in the nation, according to the statement. “Our faculty and staff, including Dr. Bynon, are assisting with the investigation into Memorial Hermann's liver transplant program and are committed to addressing and resolving any findings identified during this process.”
Founded in 1925, Memorial Hermann Hospital is a major hospital in Houston, but it has a relatively small liver transplant program. It performed 29 liver transplants last year, making it one of the smallest programs in Texas, according to federal data.
Data shows an unusual number of Memorial Hermann patients have died in recent years while waiting to have their livers harvested. According to the Transplant Recipient Scientific Registry, a research group, 14 patients were removed from the center's waiting list last year due to death or severe symptoms, and the mortality rate for people waiting for a transplant is lower than expected. It was also expensive.
Records show that as of last month, five patients had died or were too seriously ill to receive a liver transplant, and the hospital had performed three transplants this year. The study is in its early stages, and it is unclear whether changes to the waiting list will actually result in some patients not receiving liver doses. A hospital spokesperson said the center is treating more severely ill patients than average.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also said in a statement that it was investigating the allegations. So does United Network for Organ Sharing, the federal contractor that oversees the country's organ transplant system.
“We recognize the seriousness of this allegation,” HHS said in a statement. “We are working diligently to address this issue with the attention it deserves.”
Authorities began an investigation after receiving a complaint. An analysis later found what the hospital called “irregularities” in the way patients were classified on the liver transplant waiting list. When doctors list a patient, they must identify the type of donor they are considering, including the person's age and weight.
Hospital officials said they discovered that the patient list only accepted patients of ages and weights for whom transplants were not possible (for example, infants weighing 300 pounds).
Other transplant surgeons said that if the list was falsified, patients would not be aware of changes in their condition.
“They're probably sitting at home, not traveling, thinking they can always get their organs donated, but in reality they're not going to get a transplant because they're functionally inactive,” said Dr. Sanjay Kulkarni. Ta. , Vice-Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the National Organ Transplant System. “This is very unusual, never heard of before, and also very inappropriate.”
The hospital said in a statement that it did not know how many patients were affected by the change or when it began. The hospital said the problem only affected its liver transplant program, but the hospital also closed its kidney transplant program, which was led by the same doctor.
Dr. Bynon, 64, has spent his career performing abdominal transplants and is considered one of the early practitioners of advanced liver transplantation. He spent nearly 20 years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before moving to Texas in 2011.
Some former colleagues described Dr. Bynon as obnoxious and arrogant, while others described him as talented and dedicated.
“In my experience, everything he did was for the patient,” said Dr. Brendan McGuire, liver transplant physician for the Alabama program, who has worked with Dr. Bynon for more than a decade. “When he transplanted someone, that person was a patient for life.”
The University of Texas Health Science Center once posted the following photo on its LinkedIn page. Signboard depicting Dr. Bynon. The signboard read: Bynon gives new life to transplant patients. ”
Dr. Bynon has also served on the National Transplant System's Membership and Professional Standards Committee, which investigates misconduct within the system.
Most recently, in December, Dr. Bynon I made a headline For his work in performing a kidney transplant for former Texas lieutenant governor Ben Barnes.
The termination of Memorial Hermann's program came as a surprise to many in the transplant community, as it is extremely rare for a program to be terminated due to ethical issues.
At Memorial Hermann, there were 38 patients on the liver transplant waiting list and 346 patients on the kidney list when the program closed, the hospital said.
Officials said they are contacting these patients to find new health care providers.
Loni Caryn Rabin Contributed to the report. Susan C. Beachy and Kirsten Noyes contributed to research.
