Doctor found to have branded his initials on patients

Birmingham: A 57-year-old surgeon, Simon Bramhall, branded the liver of two patients before transplant. The infringement of human rights led to severe reprimand measures for the doctor. Here is what happened.

Branded liver with Argon beam

Brahmall admitted to using an Argon beam to forge his initials 'SB' on the to-be transplanted livers of his patients, in 2013 while working at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth hospital.

After a surgeon saw the initials during follow-up surgery on one of his patients, Bramhall was suspended from his position as a consultant surgeon back in 2013. On a cell phone, a photo of the 4 cm-high marking was snapped and made public.

The then doctor's conduct was 'borne out of a degree of professional arrogance,' and he 'undermined' public faith in the medical profession, according to an assessment released on Tuesday by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).

Infringement of human rights was a comic relief

The forging of initials on the patient's organ was a serious misconduct and infringement of human rights. Patients with his initials reportedly suffered considerable psychological harmas a result of the branding.

Bramhall said that he did it to defuse the tension in the operation theatre as comic relief.

The panel determined that removing the patient's name from the medical registry would be an 'appropriate and proportionate' consequence.

The tribunal added:

The physical assault of two vulnerable patients whilst unconscious in a clinical setting, one of whom experienced significant and enduring emotional harm, seriously undermines patients’ and the public’s trust and confidence in the medical profession and inevitably brings the profession as a whole into disrepute.