'Toying with them': Surgeon blocked patients from organ transplants by 'manipulating' criteria at hospital where 300-pound toddler was once listed as a required donor, DOJ says

A "nationally renowned" Texas surgeon is facing federal charges for blocking people from organ transplants by "manipulating" patient criteria and waitlists at his hospital, where a 300-pound toddler was once listed as a required liver donor, according to the Justice Department.

John Bynon Jr., 66, was charged last week with five counts of making false statements in health care matters. A DOJ press release announcing his indictment says he allegedly left patients at Memorial Hermann Health System's Texas Medical Center in Houston "unknowingly cut off from lifesaving care" as part of an organ transplant manipulation scheme that was first discovered in 2024.

"The charges allege that even though patients should have been able to receive donations through UNOS, Bynon made false statements in their medical records which rendered them functionally ineligible for a donation," the DOJ release says. "Patients, their families, and other members of their medical care team, were unaware of the false information, according to court documents. Many patients allegedly remained ineligible for months without knowing they could not receive donor organ offers during that time."

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the federal contractor that oversees the country's organ transplant system, according to The New York Times.

One patient, Daniel Rodriguez Alvarez, was put "on and off" the transplant waiting list repeatedly for eight months straight before he died at Memorial Hermann in April 2024. "It felt at some point they were just toying 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.