Macie Kelly / Houston Public Media
Memorial Hermann hospital at the Texas Medical Center on July 24, 2019.
A Houston transplant doctor accused of falsifying medical records to prevent patients from receiving new livers has been federally indicted.
Dr. J. Steve Bynon surrendered to federal authorities last month following an investigation into the allegations, which led to a months-long halt of Houston-based Memorial Hermann’s kidney and liver transplant programs. Bynon was set to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge on Thursday afternoon.
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The indictment — filed in the Southern District Court of Texas — alleges that patients, families and medical care providers were unaware that Bynon was making false statements on medical records. The hospital system’s programs were paused after a pattern of irregularities with donor acceptance criteria appeared within the United Network for Organ Sharing database, which operates under contract with the federal government.
The allegations, which were first reported by The New York Times in 2024, sparked a class-action lawsuit against the hospital. Families at the forefront of the lawsuit were granted a temporary injunction last year to prevent the accused doctor from deleting any relevant evidence.
“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,” Jason Hudson, a special agent of FBI Houston’s field office, said in a statement. “Today’s indictment makes it clear that the FBI will investigate allegations of patient harm regardless of how reputable and respected the practitioner is or the hospital system they work for.”
Bynon is charged with five counts of making false statements in health care matters. He could face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine on each count if convicted.