According to an article published in The New York Times, J. Steve Bynon, Jr, MD, FACS, a transplant surgeon at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston, is currently under investigation after allegations emerged that he tampered with data on liver transplant lists to make his patients ineligible to receive potentially life-saving organs. Prior to the investigation—which is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the United Network for Organ Sharing—Dr. Bynon was known for performing some of the earliest advanced liver transplants, enforcing standards in the organ transplant system, and overseeing the liver and kidney transplant programs at the Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center. With the start of the investigation, both programs were suspended. The new accusations state that Dr. Bynon altered patient records by manipulating government databases, thereby denying patients access to liver transplants. UTHealth Houston released a statement in defense of Dr. Bynon, describing him as a talented and caring pioneer in abdominal organ transplantation and citing his achievements in increasing survival rates following liver transplantation. However, data indicated that the Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center has one of the smallest liver transplant programs in Texas and one of the highest waitlist mortality rates, performing just 29 transplants and removing 14 patients from the transplant list because their disease became too severe or they died in 2023. As of March 2024, five patients have already been removed from the liver transplant list and only three liver transplants have been performed. Thus far, the investigation has uncovered irregularities in how patients awaiting liver transplants were classified. For instance, some patients were listed as only accepting liver donors with impossible combinations of age and weight, effectively making them functionally inactive. The alleged actions of Dr. Bynon have affected a community of just under 400 patients awaiting liver and kidney transplants at the Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center, who will be aided in finding new providers.