A Houston hospital has halted its liver and kidney transplant programs after it says a doctor manipulated its database of liver transplant patients, making them ineligible to receive new organs.
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center said in a statement Friday that its ongoing investigation has found that a doctor made “inappropriate changes” to a database of people waiting for a liver transplant. Memorial Hermann’s statement did not name the doctor, but the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, or UTHealth Houston, issued a statement defending Dr. Steve Byn, calling him “an exceptionally talented and Caring doctor”. One of the best in the nation.”
Bynon is an employee of UTHealth Houston who is contracted to Memorial Hermann. UTHealth said its faculty and staff, including Bynon, are assisting in the investigation of Memorial Hermann’s liver transplant program and “are committed to addressing and resolving any findings identified by this process.”
Memorial Hermann said a doctor changed donor acceptance criteria, which include factors such as age and weight of deceased donors. The hospital said inappropriate changes were made only in the liver transplant program, but since there is shared leadership over the liver and kidney transplant programs, it deactivated both.
Karen Maschke, a research scholar at the Hastings Center, a medical ethics think tank, said with “such a major allegation” it makes sense to shut down transplant programs while the investigation is underway. “They know very well that when they stop a program, it’s going to have a really serious impact on patients. So I think they probably don’t take this decision lightly.”
Such allegations of manipulation of the transplant waiting list could undermine public confidence in the organ allocation system, Maschke said.
“Without fairness, transparency and accountability in the transplant program, you lose the trust of patients as well as donors,” Maschke said, because donors won’t want to provide organs if they feel the institution can’t manage them. Will get. The allocation system is fair.”
Memorial Hermann said in a statement to The New York Times on Thursday that a doctor in the liver transplant program admitted to altering patient records. The newspaper identified the doctor as Bynon.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that they are “working across the department to resolve this issue.” The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN, said it “cannot comment on any potential or ongoing review of any member organization.”
The death rate for people waiting for liver transplants at Memorial Hermann was higher than expected in recent years, according to publicly available data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, which evaluates U.S. organ transplant programs.
OPTN data shows four patients died or became too sick for a transplant in 2021, 11 in 2022, 14 in 2023 and five so far this year.
The UTHealth statement said Bynon “treated patients with above-average acuity and disease complexity.”
Memorial Hermann said they are working with patients on the list to make sure they get the care they need, including being transferred to another transplant program if necessary. Memorial Hermann also said it is working with UTHealth Houston to make changes so they can reactivate the program under different leadership.
