A Texas hospital has shut down its organ transplant program after discovering that a physician allegedly made “inappropriate modifications” to medical information that will have disqualified some sufferers from the surgical procedure.
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Heart in Houston, which beforehand operated a kidney and liver transplant program, has suspended this system whereas an investigation into modifications made to its affected person database continues. IN assertion The hospital stated the modifications affected sufferers on the ready listing for liver transplants, the Houston Chronicle reported.
On the subject of hospital representatives The New York Instances decided revered transplant surgeon, Dr. J. Steve Bynon, Jr., as the one who allegedly made the modifications to the database. The Instances stories that Bynon works on the College of Texas Well being Science Heart at Houston, however has a contract to direct Hermann’s stomach transplant program.
Based on the Instances, the modifications addressed “not possible” traits attributed to sufferers that made them ineligible for a transplant:
When medical doctors listing a affected person, they need to point out the sorts of donors they’re contemplating, together with the individual’s age and weight. Hospital officers stated they found that sufferers had been listed as solely accepting donors with not possible ages and weights (resembling a 300-pound toddler), making them unable to obtain any transplant.
There’s little readability but as to what may need prompted the physician to make these modifications. When Gizmodo reached out for remark, UTHealth supplied an announcement that stated, partly:
Dr. Steve Bynon is an exceptionally proficient and caring doctor and a pioneer within the subject of stomach organ transplantation. Based on the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, Bynon’s survival charges and surgical outcomes are among the many finest within the nation, even when treating sufferers with above-average visible acuity and illness complexity… Our college and workers, together with Dr. Bynon, help within the investigation of the liver transplant program Memorial Hermann and are dedicated to reviewing and addressing any findings recognized throughout this course of.
Hermann-Texas Medical Heart didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The incident is at the moment below investigation by the US Division of Well being and Human Providers. “We acknowledge the seriousness of this allegation,” HHS informed the Instances. “We’re working diligently to handle this difficulty and provides it the eye it deserves.”