A Texas hospital has shut down its organ transplant program after discovering that a doctor allegedly made “inappropriate changes” to medical records that resulted in certain patients being ineligible for surgery.
Houston-based Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, which previously operated a kidney and liver transplant program, has paused the program while an investigation into changes to a patient database continues. In a statement The hospital told the Houston Chronicle that the changes would impact patients on a liver transplant waiting list.
Citing hospital officials, The New York Times reported identified a highly respected transplant surgeon, Dr. J. Steve Bynon Jr., as the person who allegedly made the changes to the database. The Times says Bynon works for the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston but is contracted to run Hermann’s abdominal transplant program.
According to the Times, the changes were “impossible” characteristics attributed to the patients that made them unsuitable for transplant:
When doctors place a patient on the list, they must specify the types of donors they would consider, including the person’s age and weight. Hospital officials said they found that patients on the list would only accept donors of ages and weights that were impossible — a 300-pound toddler, for example — so they couldn’t receive a transplant.
There is little clarity as to what may have motivated the physician to make these changes. When contacted for comment by Gizmodo, UTHealth issued a statement that read, in part:
Dr. Steve Bynon is an exceptionally talented and caring physician and a pioneer in the field of abdominal organ transplantation. According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, Bynon’s survival rates and surgical outcomes are among the best in the country, even when he treats patients with above-average visual acuity and disease complexity… Our faculty and staff, including Drs. Bynon, are assisting in the investigation of Memorial Hermann’s liver transplant program and are committed to addressing and clarifying any findings identified during this process.
Hermann-Texas Medical Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The incident is currently under investigation by the US Department of Health and Human Services. “We recognize the seriousness of this allegation,” the HHS told the Times. “We are working diligently to address this issue with the attention it deserves.”