For decades, Dr.
But officials are now investigating allegations that Dr. Bynon secretly manipulated a government database to make some of his patients ineligible to receive new livers, potentially depriving them of life-saving care.
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, where Dr. Bynon, who oversaw both the liver and kidney transplant programs, abruptly shut down those programs last week while he investigated the allegations.
On Thursday, the medical center, a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Texas, said in a statement that a doctor in the liver transplant program admitted to changing patient records. This effectively denied transplants, the hospital said. An official with knowledge of the investigation identified the doctor as Dr. Bynon, who works at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and has been contracted to lead Memorial Hermann’s ventricular transplant program since 2011.
It was not clear what could have motivated Dr. Bynon. When reached by phone Thursday, he referred questions to UTHealth Houston. He did not confirm that he had admitted to changing files.
On Friday, after this article was published online, UTHealth Houston released a statement to news outlets defending Dr. Byon as “an exceptionally talented and caring physician and pioneer in abdominal organ transplantation.” The statement said that the survival rates of Dr. Bynon transplant recipients were among the best in the country. “Our faculty and staff members, including Dr. Bynon, are assisting with research for Memorial Hermann’s liver transplant program and are committed to reviewing and resolving any findings identified from this process,” it said.
Memorial Hermann, founded in 1925, is a major hospital in Houston, but has a relatively small liver transplant program. Last year, it performed 29 liver transplants, according to federal data, making it one of the smallest programs in Texas.
In recent years, a disproportionate number of Memorial Hermann patients have died waiting for a liver, according to data. Last year, 14 patients were removed from the center’s waiting list because they either died or became too ill, and the death rate for people waiting for a transplant was higher than expected, according to the Transplant Recipient Registry, a research group.
This year, as of last month, five patients had died or become too ill to undergo a liver transplant, while the hospital had performed three transplants, records show. The research is in early stages, and it was unclear whether potential changes to the waiting list actually resulted in a patient not receiving a liver. A hospital spokeswoman said the center treated patients who were more seriously ill than average.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that it is also investigating the allegations. So does the United Network for Organ Sharing, the federal contractor that oversees the nation’s organ transplant system.
“We recognize the seriousness of this allegation,” the HHS statement said. “We are working diligently to treat this issue with the attention it deserves.”
Officials began the investigation after being tipped off by a complaint. An analysis then found what the hospital called “irregularities” in how patients were classified on a waiting list for liver transplants. When doctors place a patient on the list, they must specify the types of donors they will consider, including the person’s age and weight.
Hospital officials said they found that patients were listed as only accepting donors of impossible ages and weights — for example, a 300-pound toddler — that made them ineligible for a transplant.
Other transplant surgeons said that if the list were falsified, patients would not be aware of changes in their status.
“They’re sitting at home, maybe not traveling, thinking they could get an organ offer at any time, but in reality, they’re functionally inactive and so they’re not going to do that transplant,” said Dr. Sanjay Kulkarni, the vice-chairman of the ethics committee. at the United Network for Organ Sharing. “It’s very unusual, I’ve never heard of it before and it’s also very inappropriate.”
The hospital said in its statement that it does not know how many patients were affected by the changes or when they began. He said the problems affected only the liver transplant program, but the hospital also closed the kidney transplant program because it was run by the same doctor.
Dr. Bynon, 64, has spent his career performing abdominal transplants and is considered one of the leading practitioners of advanced liver transplants. 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 aggressive and arrogant, while others called him talented and dedicated.
“In my experience, everything he did was about the patient,” said Dr. Brendan McGuire, the medical director of liver transplants at that Alabama program, who worked with Dr. Bynon for more than a decade. “When he transplanted someone, that person was his patient for life.”
On his LinkedIn page, the University of Texas Health Science Center once had a picture of him a billboard with Dr. Bynon on her. The sign read: “Dr. Bynon gives new life to transplant patients.”
Dr. Bynon also served on the Membership and Professional Standards Committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which investigates abuses in the transplant system.
Most recently, in December, Dr. Bynon made headlines for performing a kidney transplant on former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes of Texas.
The closing of the programs at Memorial Hermann has surprised many in the transplant community because it is extremely rare for a program to be suspended for ethical issues.
At the time it closed its programs, Memorial Hermann had 38 patients on its liver transplant waiting list and 346 patients on its kidney transplant list, according to the hospital.
Officials said they were contacting those patients to help them find new providers.
Ronnie Karin Rabin contributed to the report. Susan C. Beachy and Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.