A British surgeon has pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, after he admitted to branding his initials into the livers of two patients during transplant operations.
Simon Bramhall used an argon beam coagulator – a tool which seals bleeding blood vessels with an electric beam – to burn his initials ‘SB’ in the livers.
Prosecutor Tony Badenoch described the case as “without legal precedent in criminal law”, and that it was “an intentional application of unlawful force to a patient while anaesthetised,” and an abuse of his position.
Bramhall denied the more serious charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, a plea which was accepted by prosectors.
Argon beam coagulators are also used to burn the surface of the liver to sketch out the area of operation. It’s not believed to be harmful – and the marks usually disappear – but in one case, the organ was already damaged, and the marks didn’t heal.
Badenoch said that what Bramhall had done was not isolated and required “some skill and concentration,” done in the presence of colleagues and “with a disregard for the feelings of unconscious patients.”
The former liver, spleen and pancreas surgeon was suspended for his actions in late 2013, and resigned after a disciplinary hearing in May 2014.
He will be sentenced on January 12.
