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A Houston hospital has temporarily suspended liver and kidney transplants after learning that one of its doctors had altered patient information in a government database.
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston confirmed that the hospital is investigating “inappropriate changes” in the eligibility criteria for liver donors for patients added to the national waiting list. Donor acceptance criteria refer to factors such as age and weight when a person's liver is acceptable for a transplant.
In a statement to the Houston Chronicle, the hospital said, “The inappropriate changes … effectively activated candidates on the liver transplant waiting list.” Subsequently, these patients were unable/unable to receive organ donation while inactive.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said several branches of the agency, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Health Resources and Services Administration, were involved in the investigation.
“We recognize the seriousness of this allegation. We are now working within the department to resolve this matter. We are committed to patient safety and fair access to organ transplant services for all patients,” the statement said.
In a written statement, the organization that runs the transplant waiting list said it could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
“The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) takes patient safety seriously. According to its bylaws, OPTN cannot comment on the potential or ongoing evaluation of a member organization, the statement said.
A Memorial Hermann spokeswoman said the doctor involved in the investigation has been removed from a leading role in the liver and kidney transplant programs, and the doctor's status at the hospital depends on the results of the investigation.
Memorial Hermann did not confirm the name of the doctor under investigation.
The New York Times, citing an unnamed official familiar with the investigation; He reported on Thursday The physician who made the changes to the patient records was Dr. Steve Bynon Jr., a surgeon who oversees the kidney and liver transplant programs. The Times reached Bynon by phone Thursday and referred questions to his employer, UT Health Houston. Byenen did not say he had changed the criteria for donor acceptance, the Times said.
reached out to Binon for comment on Friday, but did not receive a response.
In a written statement sent to news outlets on Friday, Bynon's employer, UT Health Houston, called him “an exceptionally talented and caring physician and pioneer in gastric bypass surgery.”
“According to the scientific record of transplant recipients, Baynon's survival rates and surgical results are among the best in the country, while treating patients with high-above-average acuity and disease complications,” the statement said.
“Our faculty and colleagues, including Dr. Bynon, are assisting with the inquiry into the Memorial Hermann Liver Transplant Program and are committed to addressing and addressing the findings identified in this process.”
Before coming to Memorial Hermann, Bainen spent 20 years at the transplant program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Alicia Rohan, UAB's director of public relations, said in an email to on Friday that the institution is not aware of any records of patients on the transplant waiting list there.
“UAB's procedures do not allow a single physician to do what is alleged to have happened in Texas. A multidisciplinary team makes decisions regarding donor eligibility criteria for our waiting list of candidates and co-manages that system, which is reviewed on an ongoing basis,” Rohan said.
Kathy Ingram, who worked with Bynon as a nurse at UAB, said she was surprised by the allegations.
“Dr. Bynon dedicated his life to saving lives and helping others,” she said in an email to . “He is a gifted surgeon and a kind and caring man. I have worked with him for many years and have seen nothing but compassion and integrity for others.”
While Memorial Hermann liver transplant patients have above-average outcomes compared with other programs nationally, more patients than expected have died while waiting on their list in recent years, according to data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). ). Based on pre-transplant death rates across programs across the country, SRTR predicted Memorial Hermann should see about 14 deaths between July 2021 and June 2023. Instead, 19 people died in the program, a 28% higher than expected pre-transplant death rate for the program, said John Snyder, director of the registry.
Snyder noted that while Memorial Hermann's pre-transplant death rate was high, it was not as high as others.
Memorial Hermann only looked at abnormalities in patients who were waiting for new livers, but both kidney and liver programs were kept under the same leadership.
He also stated that the hospital is looking to move the kidney transplant program quickly with a different management structure.
Dr. Art Kaplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University, said it's almost impossible to explain why a doctor would make “inappropriate changes” to patient records, especially since patients may not know they're not candidates for organs. transplants.
“If someone falls off the list for any reason, you have to let them know so you can go somewhere else and see if they'll take you,” Kaplan said.
Memorial Hermann said it was contacting patients individually to review their options.
One of those patients is Mandy Sears, 46, of Childress, Texas.
As a teenager, Sears underwent cancer treatment, which left her with kidney failure at age 19.
In the year She received her first transplant at Hermann in 2003 and says the experience was “amazing.” That led her to return to the same hospital in 2018 when her first donor kidney expired.
She said she had been waiting for a kidney for six years when the hospital called her Tuesday that Sears was temporarily closing its kidney transplant program. She told him that the news is manna.
Sears said she gets excited every time her phone calls, hoping it's news that a donor has been found.
“I know I'm not going to get a phone call until now,” she said.
Sears said she could either switch to another program or wait until the hospital restarts the kidney transplants. She says she doesn't know what to do, and worries about her situation.
“It makes me nervous,” Sears said of the allegations about changing patient records. “I hope he didn't do anything on my side.”
In the year She says she received a call for a kidney in 2022, which she accepted and was preparing for surgery when doctors told her there was a problem with the kidney and they couldn't give it to her. They sent her home.
Sears understands that not all organs are suitable for transplant, but she said the new allegations of improper changes in records put that part, and a long distance, on the waiting list at a different level.
“Did I make a mistake that made it look like I wasn't a good candidate?” She said. “I've done everything I'm supposed to do.”
When the program closed, Sears said, she was working on arrangements for a live-donor transplant from someone who heard her story at the church.
Now, she says, she's afraid they'll have to start over.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled John Snyder's last name.