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Instruments in the operating room via Shutterstock
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UK surgeon suspended for 'branding his initials on patient's liver'
A patient charity said “this is a patient we’re talking about, not an autograph”.
A CONSULTANT AT a Birmingham hospital has been suspended for allegedly branding his initials into a transplant patient’s liver.
Simon Bramhall of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the West Midlands city was suspended after a colleague checked the patient during a routine check-up of the patient. While doing so, it was found that a beam of argon gas had been used to burn the initials into the organ.
The gas is usually not harmful and the scarring would be superficial.
An insider told The Telegraph newspaper in England that the case was “shocking” and that Mr Bramhall was a vastly experienced surgeon.
“I am hoping this is just a mistake, I don’t know what would possess someone to do that to another human being.
“What gives a person the right to do that to another?”
UK patient charity Patient Concern spokesperson Joyce Robins said:
This is a patient we are talking about, not an autograph book.
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