Memorial Hermann reactivates abdominal transplant program 1 year after scandal, hospital says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A year after a scandal forced the Memorial Hermann Health System to inactivate its liver transplant program over manipulation of data, the hospital quietly announced over the weekend the program has returned.

A spokesperson for Memorial Hermann said in a statement to ABC13 that it officially reactivated its program on Thursday, April 3.

"We are pleased to confirm that we have officially reactivated Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center's Abdominal Transplant Program, effective April 3, 2025. We have fully cooperated with all regulatory agencies and swiftly implemented corrective actions after voluntarily pausing the program in March 2024.

The goal since then has always been to reactivate the program as quickly and as safely as possible, and we now have support from Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) Membership and Professional Standards Committee to do so. Above and beyond the corrective actions already taken, we have also implemented several crucial changes - including strategic personnel and leadership governance and structural changes - to ensure the smooth, effective and efficient reactivation of the program.

Throughout this time, our foremost priority has been - and continues to be - ensuring the continuity of high-quality care for our patients. We now look forward to safely resuming our Abdominal Transplant Program so we can continue serving the hundreds of patients who rely on our team for care."

It comes a little over a month after the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), which runs the national transplant system, issued a rare and severe sanction for demonstrating "a serious lapse in patient safety or quality of care," the network said in February.

The hospital voluntarily inactivated its liver and kidney transplant programs on April 10, 2024, after prominent surgeon Dr. Steve Bynon allegedly changed figures in a database so certain patients on the waitlist would be unable to receive a new liver.

According to court records from Sept. 2024, that included an instance on Nov. 9, 2022, when the hospital database stated "Patient No. 1" could receive a new organ from anyone ages 0-to-80 years. Bynon allegedly changed it to a maximum of eight years.

Weight was also a figure manipulated by the doctor.

"Patient No. 3" could receive a liver from anyone weighing 15-to-200 pounds on Feb. 19, 2018. The minimum was raised to 150 pounds later that year.

In the documents, Bynon admitted to his actions, saying he was the only doctor at Memorial Hermann who participated in this practice and that he did it to "ensure patients were safely transplanted."

"It's inexplicable to me what the motive was. It's really hard to wrap your mind around it... I think we're certainly dealing some form of ego, God complex, whatever," Attorney JD Davis told ABC13 last September. Davis is one of two attorneys representing clients who filed lawsuits at the time as a result of Bynon's actions.

Bynon no longer oversees the transplant program. According to our partners at the Houston Chronicle, Dr. Mark Hobeika, a former transplant surgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital, will now be in charge.

Since the investigation, Memorial Hermann said it had restricted doctors' access to the transplant database to read-only, expanded documentation requirements, and implemented a two-person validation process if changes need to be made to criteria as well as routine audits. In its new statement, the system also said it added "strategic personnel and leadership governance and structural changes" but didn't elaborate on what those changes are.

At the time of the investigation, about 40 candidates were waiting for a liver transplant. Its kidney program had more than 300 patients on the waiting list at the time.