2026年2月6日 / 美国东部时间凌晨5:01 / CBS/美联社
联邦检察官周四宣布,一名休斯顿医生因伪造五名患者的医疗记录,使他们不符合接受肝移植的条件而被起诉。
小约翰·史蒂文森·拜农博士(Dr. John Stevenson Bynon Jr.)上月被休斯顿大陪审团以五项与医疗保健事项有关的虚假陈述罪名起诉。
拜农被指控在担任休斯顿纪念赫尔曼健康系统(Memorial Hermann Health System)腹部器官移植主任和肝移植外科主任期间作虚假陈述。
根据周四公布的起诉书,五名患者中,三人死亡,另外两人在不同医院成功接受了肝移植。
法庭记录显示,患者、他们的家人以及医疗护理团队的其他成员均未意识到拜农据称在他们的医疗记录中作了虚假陈述。
美国检察官尼古拉斯·J·甘吉(Nicholas J. Ganjei)在一份声明中表示:”拜农博士据称违背了医疗专业人员最神圣的职责——治病救人。他通过伪造记录阻止患者接受器官移植,从最信任他的人那里偷走了数年的生命希望。”
拜农的律师萨米·哈利勒(Samy Khalil)在周四下午医生首次出庭后在联邦法院外告诉记者,拜农是一位才华横溢的器官移植外科医生,在40年的职业生涯中已完成2000多例移植手术。
“他所做的一切都不违法。他所做的一切都是合法且出于善意的,”哈利勒说,”我们期待在法庭上为他洗清罪名,并向政府阐明支撑这一完全被误导的起诉的医学概念。”
雇佣拜农的纪念赫尔曼健康系统和休斯顿大学健康科学中心(UTHealth Houston)未立即回复记者的置评请求。
2024年4月,当针对拜农的指控首次公开后,纪念赫尔曼关闭了其肝肾移植项目。一年后,该项目重新启动。
几名等待肝移植期间死亡的患者家属已在休斯顿民事法院起诉拜农,希望查明亲人是否因拜农的行为而被拒绝肝移植。诉讼仍在审理中。
起诉书称,拜农在2023年3月至2024年3月期间篡改了五名患者的记录。
一名患者因不符合器官捐献者条件而等待了约149天,于2024年2月在拜农的治疗下死亡。
另一名患者不符合器官捐献条件约69天,于2023年12月在接受新肝移植手术期间死亡。
第三名需要”紧急肝移植”的患者于2023年12月死亡,两天前拜农据称在患者的捐献匹配标准中输入了虚假信息,”严重限制”或使患者”实际上不符合接受救命器官捐献的条件”。
另外两名患者在转至其他医院后成功接受了肝移植。
2024年,哥伦比亚广播公司休斯顿分台KHOU-TV采访了据称被拜农伪造医疗记录的患者家属。他们表示,当拜农据称伪造记录时,他们被从等待名单中剔除,病情恶化。
如果罪名成立,拜农每项指控最高可面临5年监禁和25万美元罚款。
2025年2月,负责管理美国器官捐献项目的器官采购与移植网络(Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network)宣布纪念赫尔曼为”不良成员”。这是移植网络能采取的最严厉行动,向公众表明其成员之一在患者安全或护理质量方面存在严重失误。
(图片说明:2024年4月,左三为汤米·黑斯廷斯律师在新闻发布会上发言,当时他代表的是一名患者家属,寻求对小约翰·史蒂文森·拜农博士的临时限制令,指控其篡改等待肝移植患者的医疗记录。)
(图片来源:休斯顿纪事报/盖蒂图片社 / Kirk Sides)
起诉书和美国检察官办公室在休斯顿发布的新闻稿未详细说明拜农据称行为的动机。美国检察官办公室发言人安吉拉·多奇(Angela Dodge)拒绝置评。
美国联邦调查局休斯顿现场办公室代理特别探员负责人杰森·哈德森(Jason Hudson)表示:”最终,本案的核心是脆弱的患者,他们将生存的希望寄托在一位如今因操纵其医疗记录而面临联邦指控的全国知名外科医生身上。”
美国司法部(DOJ)称:”许多患者在数月内仍不符合条件,却不知道在此期间他们无法获得器官移植机会。”
2025年2月,负责管理美国器官捐献项目的器官采购与移植网络(Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network)宣布纪念赫尔曼为”不良成员”。这是移植网络能采取的最严厉行动,向公众表明其成员之一在患者安全或护理质量方面存在严重失误。
Renowned Houston surgeon allegedly faked records to block patients’ liver transplants
February 6, 2026 / 5:01 AM EST / CBS/AP
A Houston doctor has been indicted on charges of falsifying medical records for five patients, making them ineligible to receive a liver transplant, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.
Dr. John Stevenson Bynon Jr. was indicted by a grand jury in Houston last month on five counts of false statements relating to health care matters.
Bynon is accused of making false statements in his role as director of abdominal organ transplantation and surgical director for liver transplantation at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston.
Of the five patients detailed in an indictment made public on Thursday, three died and two others were able to get liver transplants at different hospitals.
Patients, their families, and other members of their medical care team were unaware Bynon allegedly made false statements in their medical records, according to court records.
“Dr. Bynon is alleged to have betrayed the most sacred duty of a medical professional – to heal,” U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said in a statement. “He stole years and hope from those who trusted him most by falsifying records and preventing patients from receiving organ transplants.”
Samy Khalil, Bynon’s attorney, told reporters outside the federal courthouse after the doctor’s initial court appearance Thursday afternoon that Bynon is a talented organ transplant surgeon who has performed over 2,000 transplants over his 40-year career.
“Nothing he did was unlawful. Everything that he did was lawful and in good faith,” Khalil said. “We look forward to clearing his name in a court of law and educating, frankly, the government on the medical concepts that undergird this totally, totally misguided prosecution.”
Memorial Hermann Health System and UTHealth Houston, which employs Bynon, didn’t immediately respond to emails requesting comment.
Attorney Tommy Hastings, third from left, speaking during a press conference about a Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center surgeon in April2024. The families were seeking a temporary restraining order against Dr. John Stevenson Bynon Jr., who allegedly manipulated medical records of patients awaiting liver transplants at Memorial Hermann. Kirk Sides / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
The indictment and a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston didn’t detail a motive for Bynon’s alleged actions. Angela Dodge, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
“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,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Hudson of the FBI Houston Field Office.
“Many patients remained ineligible for months without knowing they could not receive organ offers during that time,” the DOJ said.
After the accusations against Bynon were first made public in April 2024, Memorial Hermann shut down its liver and kidney transplant program. Memorial Hermann reactivated its transplant program a year later.
The families of several patients who died while waiting for liver transplants have sued Bynon in Houston civil court, wanting to know if their loved ones were denied liver transplants due to Bynon’s actions. The lawsuits remain pending.
The indictment alleges Bynon changed the records of five patients from March 2023 to March 2024.
One patient was ineligible to receive a donor organ offer for approximately 149 days and died in February 2024 under Bynon’s care, according to the indictment.
Another patient was ineligible to receive a donor organ offer for approximately 69 days and died in December 2023 during a surgery to receive a new liver.
A third patient who required an “urgent liver transplantation” died in December 2023, two days after Bynon allegedly entered false donor matching criteria for the patient that “severely restricted” or made the patient “functionally ineligible to receive a lifesaving donor organ offer,” according to the indictment.
Two other patients received successful liver transplants after going to other hospitals.
In 2024, CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV spoke to family members of patients whose medical records were allegedly falsified by Bynon. They said when Bynon allegedly falsified the records, they were kicked off the waiting list and their conditions worsened.
If convicted, Bynon faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 for each count.
In February 2025, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which manages the country’s organ donation program, declared Memorial Hermann a member not in good standing. The designation is the most severe action that the transplantation network can take and tells the public that one of its members has shown a serious lapse in patient safety or quality of care.