Houston doctor accused of secretly denying liver transplants

Officers are investigating allegations {that a} Houston surgeon was secretly altering affected person data in a authorities database to make a few of his personal sufferers ineligible for transplants at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Middle.

The hospital introduced final week that it’s suspending its liver-transplant program whereas federal regulators investigated irregularities pertaining to “donor acceptance standards,” the Houston Chronicle reported.

This week, Memorial Hermann additionally suspended its kidney-transplant program. And on Thursday, the New York Occasions reported that federal well being officers are investigating a Memorial Hermann physician who’s suspected of manipulating affected person data to disclaim them liver transplants.  

The Occasions recognized the surgeon as Dr. J. Steve Bynon Jr., a nationally-regarded transplant surgeon at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Middle in Houston.

Bynon has led each the hospital’s kidney and liver transplant packages since 2011. Memorial Hermann launched a press release Friday defending the physician. Bynon didn’t return a message left at his workplace by the Houston Touchdown.

Right here’s what we all know in regards to the investigation and the way many individuals have been impacted:

What will we find out about Dr. Steve Bynon Jr.?

Dr. Bynon, 64, gained nationwide prominence as a frontrunner in liver transplant surgical procedure and served on the Membership and Skilled Requirements Committee of the United Community for Organ Sharing. The group is tasked with investigating wrongdoing within the transplant system.  

In accordance with a press release Memorial Hermann supplied to the Occasions, Bynon has each the liver and kidney transplant packages on the hospital since 2011. 

What are officers investigating at Memorial Hermann’s transplant packages? 

A criticism prompted Memorial Hermann officers to open an investigation into Dr. Bynon and the hospital’s liver transplant program. The investigation revealed “irregularities” in sufferers’ classifications on the transplant wait listing. 

Hospital officers advised the Occasions they found some sufferers’ standards for accepting donors made them successfully ineligible for a transplant. For instance, a affected person could be listed as accepting a donation from a 300-pound toddler, eliminating their possibilities of receiving a transplant, per the Occasions.

Memorial Hermann suspended each packages, citing “irregularities” in donor transplant data for the liver program.  The hospital advised the Occasions it doesn’t know the way lengthy Dr. Bynon could have been altering the database. Officers stated the irregularities solely affected liver transplant sufferers, however suspended kidney transplants as a result of Dr. Bynon ran each packages. 

What number of sufferers have been denied transplants at Memorial Hermann?

Thirty-eight sufferers remained on Memorial Hermann’s liver transplant ready listing and 346 sufferers on its kidney listing when it shut down, in response to the Occasions. 

Sufferers on Memorial Hermann’s liver transplant waitlist have died at disproportionate charges in recent times, in response to information analyzed by the New York Occasions. The Occasions discovered that 14 sufferers have been faraway from the hospital’s ready listing after turning into too sick or dying. The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients advised the Occasions that the hospital’s mortality price for transplant waitlist sufferers was abnormally excessive. 

Information reviewed by the Occasions present that as of final month, the hospital had carried out three liver transplants, whereas 5 sufferers had died or grow to be too unwell for a liver transplant. 

“We acknowledge the severity of this allegation,” the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies, which can be investigating the matter, stated in a press release. “We’re working diligently to deal with this situation with the eye it deserves.”  

How has Memorial Hermann responded to the allegations?

The hospital defended Bynon on Friday, calling him an “extraordinary” physician. Memorial Hermann stated it’s engaged on transferring its sufferers to different transplant packages. The hospital launched the next assertion Friday in regards to the present standing of the investigation and its response:

“Over the previous two weeks, now we have been actively working with all impacted sufferers, households and caregivers from the liver and the kidney transplant packages, following the troublesome determination to voluntarily inactivate each packages. Our main precedence is making certain continuity of compassionate look after sufferers who have been on the transplant program lists on the hospital.

“Every affected person is being individually contacted by a transplant care coordinator to assessment ongoing care choices, together with a seamless transition to a different transplant program, the place vital.

“We’re working with College of Texas Well being Science Middle at Houston to make the mandatory modifications that may enable for the fast reactivation of the kidney transplant program beneath a special doctor management construction.  All program transplant physicians are employed by the College of Well being Science Middle at Houston and contracted to Memorial Hermann to supply doctor providers.

“Our investigation is ongoing, and we proceed to cooperate with all regulatory authorities.”

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