Transplant surgeon burned his initials on patients’ livers in ops
Mr Badenoch said: “They reflect the fact that Dr Bramhall’s initialling on a patient’s liver was not an isolated incident but rather a repeated act on two occasions, requiring some skill and concentration. It was done in the presence of colleagues.”
Describing the offences as an abuse of position, the prosecutor said they had been carried out with a disregard for the feelings of unconscious patients.
He added: “It was an intentional application of unlawful force to a patient whilst anaesthetised. His acts in marking the livers of those patients were deliberate and conscious acts.”
But he said it was not for the court to decide if he should continue to work, pointing out: “It will be for others to decide whether and to what extent his fitness to practise is impaired.”
Bramhall, who appeared in the dock wearing a pink shirt and dark suit, was granted unconditional bail and will be Simon Bramhall, seen above at court, worked at Queen Elizabeth Hospital sentenced on January 12. The names of the patients involved have not been made public.
The surgeon burned his initials into their livers with a medical tool called an argon beam coagulator, which seals bleeding blood vessels by directing electricity on to the area.
The instrument can also be used to burn the surface of the organ to sketch out the area of an operation and the marks normally disappear.
After the hearing Elizabeth Reid, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Simon Bramhall was a respected surgeon who assaulted two of his patients while they were undergoing surgery. It was an intentional application of unlawful force to a patient whilst anaesthetised. His acts in marking the livers of those patients, in a wholly unnecessary way, were deliberate and conscious acts on his part.
“Those assaults were wrong not just ethically, but also criminally.
“It was an abuse of the trust placed in him by the patients.”