HOUSTON — One woman who is one of many waiting for a liver or kidney transplant is now forced to wait longer.
A New York Times report said officials are investigating allegations that Houston surgeon Dr. Steve Bynon was secretly manipulating a government database, making some of his patients ineligible to receive new livers and depriving them of lifesaving care.
One patient is coming to the doctor’s defense. She said he performed an emergency operation on her liver and saved her life.
The suspension of the transplant program is devastating to a woman who’s still on the waiting list. Brigitte Mendez is going on nearly six years waiting for a kidney.
RELATED: NYT: Transplant doctor accused of manipulating records to keep patients from getting new livers
“I got a message from someone who told me to read this article, no one called me from Memorial Hermann, but seeing that article kind of crushed me,” Mendez said.
She is now assessing her options.
“Now what’s going to happen, how long is it going to take? Another year, two years, six months? So now, I I don’t know what to do,” Mendez said.
She plans to contact Memorial Hermann on Monday.
Last week, Memorial Hermann stated “we were recently made aware of a pattern of irregularities with donor acceptance criteria.”
After the release of the New York Times article naming Dr. Bynon in the allegations, the hospital issued the following statement.
“Over the past two weeks, we have been actively working with all impacted patients, families and caregivers from the liver and the kidney transplant programs, following the difficult decision to voluntarily inactivate both programs.”
Memorial Hermann said each patient will be contacted by a transplant care coordinator to review ongoing care options.
Monica Sanchez, one of Dr. Bynon’s former patients, is coming to his defense.
“He helped me and he saved my life by giving me a new liver, I just can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez was never on a waiting list for a liver because her surgery was an emergency procedure, though she sympathizes with the people in need of a transplant.
“I’m sorry for the patients that have not yet received a liver or a kidney,” Sanchez said.
The program will remain suspended while Memorial Hermann and federal authorities continue their investigation.
Full statement:
Over the past two weeks, we have been actively working with all impacted patients, families and caregivers from the liver and the kidney transplant programs, following the difficult decision to voluntarily inactivate both programs. Our primary priority is ensuring continuity of compassionate care for patients who were on the transplant program lists at the hospital.
Each patient is being individually contacted by a transplant care coordinator to review ongoing care options, including a seamless transition to another transplant program, where necessary.
We are working with University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston to make the necessary changes that will allow for the quick reactivation of the kidney transplant program under a different physician leadership structure.
All program transplant physicians are employed by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and contracted to Memorial Hermann to provide physician services.
Our investigation is ongoing, and we continue to cooperate with all regulatory authorities.
For questions related to specific physicians, please direct all inquiries to the UTHealth Houston media office.