Relatives of those who died waiting for livers at now halted Houston transplant program seek answers

DALLAS (AP) — Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ.

Officials at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center have said they are investigating after finding that a doctor had made “inappropriate changes” in the national database for people awaiting liver transplants. Earlier this month, the hospital halted its liver and kidney programs.

Susie Garcia's son, Richard Mostacci, died in February 2023 after being told he was too sick for a transplant. He was 43. “We saw him slipping away, slipping away and there was nothing that we could do, and we trusted, we trusted the doctors,” Garcia said at a news conference.

She's among family members of three patients who retained attorneys with a Houston law firm that filed for a temporary restraining order Tuesday to prevent Dr. Steve Bynon from deleting or destroying evidence. Attorney Tommy Hastings said that some interactions with Bynon had caused “concerns about maybe some personal animosities and that maybe he may have taken it out on patients.”

“Again, we’re very early in this investigation," Hastings said.

Hermann-Memorial's statement didn’t name the doctor, but the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, or UTHealth Houston, issued a statement defending Bynon, calling him ”an exceptionally talented and caring physician” with survival rates that are “among the best in the nation.”

Bynon is an employee of UTHealth Houston who is contracted to Memorial Hermann. He did not respond to an email inquiry Wednesday.

The hospital has said the inappropriate changes were only made to the liver transplant program, but since he shared leadership over both the liver and kidney transplant programs, they inactivated both.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also said it’s conducting an investigation, adding it is “working across the department to address this matter.”

Neither Hermann Memorial nor UTHealth or HHS had additional comments Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a woman using a different law firm filed a lawsuit last week in Harris County against Memorial Hermann and UTHealth alleging negligence in the death of her husband, John Montgomery, who died in May 2023 at age 66 while on the waitlist for a liver transplant. The lawsuit says that Montgomery was told he wasn’t sick enough, and subsequently, that he was too sick before ultimately being taken off the list.

The death rate for people waiting for a liver transplant at Memorial Hermann was higher than expected in recent years, according to publicly available data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, which evaluates U.S. organ transplant programs. The group found that in the two-year period from July 2021 through June 2023, there were 19 deaths on the waitlist, while models would have predicted about 14 deaths.

While the hospital's waitlist mortality rate of 28% was higher than expected “there were many liver programs with more extreme outcomes during the same period,” Jon Snyder, the registry's director, said in an email.

He said that the hospital's first-year success rates for the 56 adults who received transplants between July 2020 through December 2022 was 35% better than expected based on national outcomes.

Daniel Rodriguez-Corrales, center, describes the days immediately before his father's death during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Daniel Rodriguez-Corrales, right, describes the days immediately before his father's death during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Susie Garcia, center, describes the days immediately before her son's death during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Niemma Mostacci, right, describes the days immediately before her father's death during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Attorney Tommy Hastings, right, speaks on behalf of his and fellow attorney Gabe Sassin's clients during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Daniel Rodriguez-Corrales, left, listens along side his attorney, Gabe Sassin, during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Daniel Rodriguez-Corrales is seen during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Niemma Mostacci is seen during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Attorney Tommy Hastings, third from left, speaks on behalf of his and fellow attorney Gabe Sassin's clients during a press conference, Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in The Woodland, Texas. Several relatives of patients who died while waiting for a new liver said Wednesday they want to know if their loved ones were wrongfully denied a transplant by Dr. Steve Bynon, a Houston doctor accused of manipulating the waitlist to make some patients ineligible to receive a new organ. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A delegation of the Palestinian militant group Hamas was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported “noticeable progress” in ongoing cease-fire talks with Israel while an Israeli official downplayed the prospects for a full end to the war.

Pressure has been mounting to reach a deal — Gaza's humanitarian crisis is dramatically escalating while Israel insists it will launch an offensive into Rafah, the territory's southernmost city.

The stakes are high to find a halt to the nearly seven-months-long war. More than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering in the city of Rafah, along the border with Egypt, many having fled northern Gaza where a top U.N. official says there is now a full-blown famine.

Egyptian and American mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days but chances for a cease-fire deal remain entangled with the key question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying Hamas.

Egyptian state Al-Qahera news said Saturday that a consensus has been reached over many of the disputed points but did not elaborate. Hamas has called for a complete end to the war and withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s local health officials, caused widespread destruction and plunged the territory into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The conflict erupted on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, abducting about 250 people and killing around 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, played down the prospects for a full end to the war. The official said Israel was committed to the Rafah invasion and told The Associated Press that it will not agree in any circumstance to end the war as part of a deal to release hostages.

Israeli strikes early Saturday on Gaza killed at least six people. Three bodies were recovered from the rubble of a building in Rafah and taken to Yousef Al Najjar hospital. A strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza also killed three people, according to hospital officials.

In the last 24 hours, the bodies of 32 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies, but says that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.

The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to back up the claim.

In related developments this week, Israel briefed Biden administration officials on plans to evacuate civilians ahead of the Rafah operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.

The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward into the densely packed city, which is also a critical entry point for humanitarian aid.

The U.S. director of the U.N. World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said Friday that trapped civilians in the north, the most cut-off part of Gaza, have plunged into famine. McCain said a cease-fire and a greatly increased flow of aid through land and sea routes was essential.

Israel recently opened new crossings for aid into northern Gaza, but on Wednesday, Israeli settlers blocked the first convoy before it crossed into the besieged enclave. Once inside Gaza, the convoy was commandeered by Hamas militants, before U.N. officials reclaimed it.

The proposal that Egyptian mediators had put to Hamas sets out a three-stage process that would bring an immediate, six-week cease-fire and partial release of Israeli hostages, and would include some sort of Israeli pullout. The initial stage would last for 40 days.

Hamas would start by releasing female civilian hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Gershon Baskin, director for the Middle East at the International Communities Organization, said it appears that Hamas has agreed to the framework that Egypt proposed and Israel has already accepted.

He said the negotiators are now hammering out the details — and if Israel sends its top negotiators to Cairo after the Sabbath ends on Saturday evening, that would signify it's very serious.

Jeffery reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinians stand in the ruins of the Chahine family home, after an overnight Israeli strike that killed at least two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinian medics treat a wounded person as the other one carries a young wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, early Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinian civil defence members evacuate survivors of the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinian medics evacuate wounded children in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip by ambulance to the Hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinian civil defence members evacuate survivors of the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinian civil defence members evacuate survivors of the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)