Surgeon burnt initials on to liver ‘to relieve tension while operating’
AN “ARROGANT” consultant surgeon who burned his initials onto the livers of two unconscious transplant patients is still working at a hospital trust, it emerged yesterday.
Simon Bramhall, who was fined £10,000 yesterday for an “abuse of power and betrayal of trust”, remains in the NHS at Wye Valley Trust.
Last night a spokesman for the trust confirmed Mr Bramhall had arrived prior to the investigation into his conduct, adding that he does not carry out liver transplants in his new role.
The admission came as a court heard Bramhall had told a nurse: “I do this,” when she questioned him about using an argon beam machine to “write” the letters “SB” onto the organ of a patient.
As the 53-year-old avoided prison yesterday, Birmingham Crown Court heard that Bramhall had admitted his “naive and foolhardy” actions were part of a “misjudged attempt to relieve the tension in theatre” following a difficult transplant.
He carried out one of the assaults at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham following an operation on August 21 2013. However, the patient – a nurse known as Patient A – was placed back on the transplant list when the new organ failed. When another surgeon carried out a second transplant eight days later, he discovered the 1.5in markings. Patient A was informed and described the feeling of the discovery as similar to that of a “rape victim”.
During investigations by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the General Medical Council, Dr Adam Hill claimed he had seen Bramhall brand another patient’s liver in a similar way in February 2013. Although that victim refused to take part in a police investigation, Bramhall was suspended and resigned in 2014.
Bramhall, who worked on the hospital’s liver unit for 12 years and was described as “the best surgeon of his generation”, previously admitted two counts of assault by beating.
He was given a formal warning by the General Medical Council (GMC) last February. Bramhall, of Redditch, Worcestershire, denied two other counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, which was accepted.
Prosecutor Tony Badenoch, QC, told the court that Bramhall had “saved many lives”. He said the surgeon’s actions had not caused either patient’s new liver to fail and added: “The markings caused by this may not last long, possibly no longer than a few weeks.”
The court heard that Patient A’s surgery was “long and arduous” but at the end, Bramhall used the argon beam coagulator – which uses heat to seal gaps – to mark his initials on the liver.
When challenged by a nurse, Bramhall – who has performed 351 liver transplants and thousands of other operations – responded: “I do this.”
Judge Paul Farrer, QC, also sentenced Bramhall to a 12-month community order with 120 hours of unpaid work. He said: “This was conduct born of professional arrogance of such magnitude that it strayed into criminal behaviour. What you did was an abuse of power and a betrayal of trust.”