Organ Transplant Oversight

Federal prosecutors in Houston have indicted Dr. John Stevenson Bynon Jr., a prominent liver-transplant surgeon at Memorial Hermann Health System, on five counts of making false statements in medical records that allegedly rendered five patients ineligible to receive liver offers between March 2023 and March 2024. The indictment says three of those patients died—two after prolonged periods in which they were functionally ineligible for donor organs—and two others ultimately received transplants at other hospitals, while neither the patients, their families nor other care-team members knew their records had allegedly been altered. U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei accused Bynon of betraying his duty to heal by manipulating criteria in the national matching system; FBI officials say some patients went months unable to receive offers without realizing their status had been changed. Bynon’s lawyer calls him a talented surgeon who acted lawfully and in good faith and vows to fight what he terms a "totally misguided" prosecution. Memorial Hermann shut down its liver and kidney transplant program after the allegations surfaced in April 2024 and only reactivated it a year later, and several families have filed pending civil suits over deaths on the waitlist, making this criminal case a focal point for wider scrutiny of transplant oversight and safeguards.