New York Times: Houston doctor accused of secretly manipulating transplant database

A Houston doctor is accused of manipulating a national transplant database to make his patients ineligible for potentially life-saving donations, according to a report from the New York Times.

The accusations come days after KHOU 11 reported that both the liver and kidney transplant programs at Memorial Hermann Hospital were put on hold.

The Times report said the doctor, who KHOU 11 is not naming because we have not independently confirmed, was secretly making changes to national transplant database to exclude his own patients from receiving new livers. The report didn’t give a reason.  

KHOU 11 reported on Friday of last week that the hospital was putting a pause on its liver donation program, citing a “pattern of irregularities” with donor acceptance criteria.  That criteria included patients’ weight and age. They said that the liver transplant program was the only one within the hospital that was affected.  

Reporter Matt Dougherty spoke with Brian Rosenthal, one of the authors of the the New York Times article. You can watch his report below.

Then on Tuesday, the hospital said they were stopping their kidney donation program as well because of the programs’ leadership structure.

The New  York Times pulled federal data that showed Memorial Hermann has one of the smallest liver transplant programs in the state. According to their report, only 29 liver transplants were performed last year.

Memorial Hermann officials said they are working with families and patients impacted by the stoppage. They also said their investigation is ongoing and they are cooperating with regulatory agencies.

KHOU 11 has reached out to Memorial Hermann about the New York Times article. We’ve yet to hear back. As far as we know, no criminal charges have been filed.

RELATED: Days after putting pause on liver donation program, Memorial Hermann halts kidney program, too

RELATED: ‘A pattern of irregularities’ | Memorial Hermann in Texas Medical Center puts liver donation program on hold

“Memorial Hermann is dedicated to the health and well-being of every person we serve and takes seriously our commitment to patient safety.  We were recently made aware of a pattern of irregularities with donor acceptance criteria within the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) transplant information database for patients awaiting a liver transplant at Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center.  “Donor acceptance criteria” refers to factors such as the age and weight of deceased donors whose livers are being made available for transplant. These irregularities are limited to the liver transplant program. No other transplant program at Memorial Hermann is impacted.  Upon notification of the irregularities, we immediately began an investigation, and we chose to voluntarily inactivate our liver transplant program.  The voluntary inactivation of the liver transplant program does not impact any other transplant program at Memorial Hermann.

Memorial Hermann’s investigation is continuing, and we are cooperating fully with all regulatory oversight agencies.  We are also working with all impacted patients and families individually to ensure that they have the care and support that they need.”

“At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, we acknowledge the severity of this allegation. We are working across the Department to address this matter now. We are committed to protecting patient safety and equitable access to organ transplant services for all patients. We are working diligently to address this issue with the attention it deserves, including work at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) through the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – which are deploying on site to investigate. Working with our federal and state partners, HHS will pursue all appropriate enforcement and compliance actions to the fullest extent available under relevant regulations and policies to protect the safety and integrity of the organ procurement and transplantation system.”

“Houston Methodist has one of the largest transplant programs in the country and has the capacity to accommodate additional patients needing liver and kidney transplants. We are committed to help in any way we can to be sure those listed for transplant get the proper care and support they need at this time.

Houston Methodist has 1,244 kidney transplant patients on our list now and we are committed to providing a smooth transition for additional patients in the process of getting a living donor kidney. We also have received a few calls from liver patients and we are actively working to get them into the program now.”