UTHealth defends Houston surgeon accused of manipulating information to deny liver transplants at Memorial Hermann

HOUSTON – The UTHealth system is defending its renowned transplant surgeon accused of manipulating donor database information in a way that would deny liver transplants to some of its own patients.

• Report: Houston surgeon accused of ‘secretly’ rejecting liver transplants
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In a statement the day after the New York Times broke the story, UTHealth Houston writes:

Dr. Steve Bynon is an exceptionally talented and caring physician, and a pioneer in abdominal organ transplantation. According to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, Bynon’s survival rates and surgical outcomes are among the best in the nation, even while treating patients with higher-than-average acuity and disease complexity. UTHealth Houston is proud of the many contributions Dr. Bynon and his team have made to our university, our academic and clinical transplant programs, and to the field of transplant medicine. Our faculty and staff members, including Dr. Bynon, are assisting with the inquiry into Memorial Hermann’s liver transplant program and are committed to addressing and resolving any findings identified by this process.

Dr. Bynon is employed by the UT Health Science Center in Houston.

RELATED: Memorial Hermann has stopped accepting liver and kidney transplants. Here’s why

In just the past two weeks, Memorial Hermann Hospital shut down first its liver transplant program and then its kidney transplant program.

When the liver transplant program was stopped, the hospital said it was because they’d found “a pattern of irregularities with donor acceptance criteria within the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) transplant information database for patients awaiting a liver transplant.”

Three days ago, when the kidney transplant program was deactivated, the hospital said it was “because there is a shared leadership structure over both the liver and kidney transplant programs ... as we evaluate a new physician leadership structure.”

Dr. Bynon oversaw both transplant programs for Memorial Hermann.

Memorial Hermann tells us all their transplant doctors are under contract and work for the University of Health Science Center at Houston. The hospital says their transplant care coordinators are talking one-on-one with every patient and going over options for ongoing care, which for some could include transitioning to another transplant program

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed they are investigating the allegations:

“At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we acknowledge the severity of this allegation. We are working across the Department to address this matter now. We are committed to protecting patient safety and equitable access to organ transplant services for all patients. We are working diligently to address this issue with the attention it deserves, including work at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) through the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – which are deployed on site to investigate. Working with our federal and state partners, HHS will pursue all appropriate enforcement and compliance actions to the fullest extent available under relevant regulations and policies to protect the safety and integrity of the organ procurement and transplantation system.