Texas doctor indicted on charges he falsified records to block patients’ liver transplants

A Houston doctor has been indicted on charges of falsifying medical records for five patients, making them ineligible to receive a liver transplant – including some who died later, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.Dr John Stevenson Bynon Jr was indicted by a grand jury in Houston in January on five counts of false statements relating to healthcare matters.Bynon is accused of making false statements in his role as director of abdominal organ transplantation and surgical director for liver transplantation at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston.Of the five patients detailed in an indictment made public on Thursday, three died; and two others were able to get liver transplants at different hospitals.Patients, their families and other members of their medical care team were unaware Bynon allegedly made false statements in their medical records, according to court records.“Dr Bynon is alleged to have betrayed the most sacred duty of a medical professional – to heal,” said Nicholas J Ganjei said in a statement. “He stole years and hope from those who trusted him most by falsifying records and preventing patients from receiving organ transplants.”Bynon’s attorney, Samy Khalil, told reporters outside the federal courthouse after the doctor’s initial court appearance on Thursday afternoon that Bynon was a talented organ transplant surgeon who has performed more than 2,000 transplants over his 40-year career.“Nothing he did was unlawful,” Khalil said. “Everything that he did was lawful and in good faith.“We look forward to clearing his name in a court of law and educating, frankly, the government on the medical concepts that undergird this totally, totally misguided prosecution.”Memorial Hermann Health System and UTHealth Houston, who employs Bynon, did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment.The indictment and a news release by the US attorney’s Office in Houston did not detail a motive for why Bynon allegedly altered patient records. A spokesperson for the US attorney’s office declined comment.After the accusations against Bynon were first made public in April 2024, Memorial Hermann shut down its liver and kidney transplant program. Memorial Hermann reactivated its transplant program a year later.The families of several patients who died while waiting for liver transplants have sued Bynon in Houston civil court, wanting to know if their loved ones were denied liver transplants due to his actions. The lawsuits remain pending.The indictment alleges Bynon changed the records of five patients from March 2023 to March 2024.One patient was ineligible to receive a donor organ offer for approximately 149 days and died in February 2024 under Bynon’s care, according to the indictment.Another patient was ineligible to receive a donor organ offer for approximately 69 days and died in December 2023 during a surgery to receive a new liver.A third patient who required an “urgent liver transplantation” died in December 2023, two days after Bynon allegedly entered false donor matching criteria for the patient that “severely restricted” or made the patient “functionally ineligible to receive a lifesaving donor organ offer”, according to the indictment.Two other patients received successful liver transplants after going to other hospitals.If convicted, Bynon faces up to five years in federal prison for each count.In February 2025, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which manages the country’s organ donation program, declared Memorial Hermann to be a member not in good standing. The designation is the most severe action that the transplantation network can take and tells the public that one of its members has shown a serious lapse in patient safety or quality of care.