Surgeon fined £10,000 for burning his initials on patients’ livers

An “arrogant” consultant surgeon who “betrayed the trust” of his patients by burning his initials on to the livers of two unconscious transplant patients has been fined £10,000.

Simon Bramhall, 53, pictured, used an argon beam machine to “write” his initials on the organs of two anaesthetised victims in February and August 2013 while working at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

A judge at the city’s Crown Court said Bramhall, who resigned from the hospital in 2014, had carried out “an abuse of power and a betrayal of trust”.

The consultant, who was given a formal warning by the General Medical Council (GMC) last February, admitted two counts of assault by beating last month after prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Judge Paul Farrer QC also sentenced Bramhall yesterday to a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work.

He said: “Both of the (transplant) operations were long and difficult. I accept that on both occasions you were tired and stressed and I accept that this may have affected your judgment.

“This was conduct born of professional arrogance of such magnitude that it strayed into criminal behaviour.”