Surgeon Simon Bramhall, who burned his initials on to the livers of two transplant patients while working at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, in Birmingham, has been fined £10,000 and given a 12-month community order.
Bramhall (now working for the NHS in Herefordshire) was fortunate not to have been struck off. It’s disturbing enough to think of your body being opened up for surgery, but to have somebody leave their mark there (“SB”) is grotesque; as the court found, it was “an abuse of power, and a betrayal of trust”. Bramhall’s defence argued that it was to lighten the mood in theatre. Really? In that case, put on some quiet background music – don’t sign a human organ, as if you’re some kind of rock star in scrubs being pestered for an autograph.
It seems that there was no lasting harm done – the marks wouldn’t have affected the performance of the liver and they would disappear in time. However, there’s always harm done; if nothing else, such incidents bolster the widespread public perception of surgeons being arrogant and superior.
Too many cases such as this and patient-surgeon trust would be in grave danger of breaking down.
