Page 7 - AV Free Edition#358

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Doctor Who Branded His Initials On Patients' Livers No Longer Allowed To Practice Medicine
By Michelle Shen
Dr. Simon Bramhall,
a British surgeon who branded his initials on patients' livers, has been struck off the medical register as of Monday, accord- ing to a report by BBC News.
According to
the U.K. General Medical Council, that means he can no longer work as a doctor in the U.K.
The branding occurred in February and August of 2013, and Bramhall received two con- victions for com- mon assault in December 2017, according
to records from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal.
The records show that he used an argon beam coagulator, a
device commonly used in surgeries, to place his ini- tials on the trans- planted liver of a patient at the end of each surgery.
The branded ini- tials were only discovered when an organ trans- plant failed and
another doctor was performing a surgery on the patient, according to BBC News.
The patient suf- fered from mental health issues from the ensuing press coverage and trauma of the incident, accord-
ing to records from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal.
After pleading guilty to both counts of assault, Bramhall was sentenced to community orders with unpaid work and a fine of
£10,000 ($13,635).
Bramhall had received a series of titles and hon- ors over the years, according to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal. He was a consultant sur- geon and lecturer
at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, deputy director of the division of medi- cine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal decided to suspend his license for five months in December 2020, citing "profession- al arrogance of such magnitude that it strayed into criminal behav- iour."
His case was recently revisited, and he has once again been sus- pended from practicing medi- cine and removed from the medical register on Monday by
the General Medical Council.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine