DOJ Uncovers Surgeon’s Manipulation of Transplant Criteria, Blocking Vital Organ Donations at Notorious Hospital

A prominent Texas surgeon is under federal indictment for allegedly obstructing organ transplants by manipulating patient criteria and waitlists at his hospital, with accusations including the bizarre case of a 300-pound toddler listed as a necessary liver donor, as reported by the Justice Department.

John Bynon Jr., 66, faces five charges of making false statements regarding healthcare matters. According to a press release from the DOJ, he is accused of leaving patients at Memorial Hermann Health System’s Texas Medical Center in Houston without access to critical care due to an organ transplant manipulation scheme discovered in 2024.

The indictment alleges that Bynon falsified medical records, making patients appear ineligible for transplants even though they should have qualified through the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). The DOJ stated that patients, their families, and medical teams were unaware of these falsifications, with many patients unknowingly remaining ineligible for organ donations for extended periods.

UNOS is the federal body responsible for managing the national organ transplant system, as detailed by The New York Times.

Among the affected patients was Daniel Rodriguez Alvarez, who was repeatedly added and removed from the transplant waiting list over eight months before passing away at Memorial Hermann in April 2024. “It felt like they were just playing games with them,” his son, Daniel Rodriguez-Corrales, told local ABC affiliate KTRK.

Another patient, Richard Mostacci, spent a year on the transplant list at Memorial Hermann before dying in February 2024. His loved ones requested a restraining order against Bynon, along with Alvarez’s family, after an investigation was announced against him that same year.

“We saw him slipping away, slipping away, and there was nothing we could do,” Mostacci’s mother, Susie Garcia, told KTRK. “We trusted the doctors.”

According to a 2024 report by The New York Times, Memorial Hermann allegedly had patients being listed as accepting only donors with ages and weights that were impossible. For example, a patient was reportedly listed as only able to accept a liver from a 300-pound toddler. As a result, a patient would technically be on the waiting list, “but in reality, they’re functionally inactive, and so they’re not going to get that transplant,” according to Dr. Sanjay Kulkarni, the vice chair of the ethics committee of the national organ transplant system, who spoke to the Times.

Bynon was director of abdominal organ transplantation and surgical director for liver transplantation at Memorial Hermann before his alleged actions were discovered.

“Under his care, patients were allegedly activated on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) liver transplant waitlist while awaiting an organ donation,” says the DOJ press release from last week.

“Due to Bynon’s unilateral decision making and false statements, which were unknown to other care providers, patients continued receiving health care benefits, items and services that Medicare paid as if they were eligible to receive donor organ offers,” the release alleges. “Some of Bynon’s patients had dire health outcomes. The indictment alleges two others sought care at alternate facilities following the discovery of the alleged false statements and ultimately received organ transplants.”

The FBI and Department of Health and Human Services conducted the investigation into Bynon. He faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted.

“Ultimately, at the center of this case are vulnerable patients who hung their hope of survival on a nationally renowned surgeon now federally charged for manipulating their medical records,” concluded acting special agent in charge Jason Hudson of the FBI Houston Field Office in the DOJ release. “Dr. Bynon is accused of manipulating the criteria of patients on organ transplant waiting lists, thereby allegedly manipulating the patients’ chance of survival.”

Memorial Hermann could not be reached for comment Sunday by Law&Crime.