A British surgeon who carved his initials into the organs of unsuspecting patients has finally lost his medical license, barring him from carrying out procedures in the future.
The actions of 57-year-old former surgeon, Simon Bramhall, came to light in 2014 following a 2013 liver surgery on a woman. During the operation, the surgeon burned the initials' S' and 'B' into the woman's liver. It was later found out he had done this to at least one other patient. The malpractice was only found after a patient's liver had improperly healed and another surgeon noticed the scarring from the initials.
In 2018 he was convicted of assault, fined £10,000, and given a community service order. It has taken though another 3 years for the surgeon to be stripped of his medical license.
Bramhall claimed he carried out the 'signature' as a way of relieving stress during long and arduous procedures.
The General Medical Council (GMC) said in its report stripping the surgeon of his medical capacity:
"The physical assault of two vulnerable patients whilst unconscious in a clinical setting, one of whom experienced significant and enduring emotional harm, seriously undermines patients' and the public's trust and confidence in the medical profession and inevitably brings the profession as a whole into disrepute. The tribunal rejected the submission made on behalf of Mr Bramhall, that it was to relieve tension. It was an act borne out of a degree of professional arrogance."
Journalists investigating the case later discovered that Bramhill had co-authored a series of books while awaiting trial. These were medical thrillers that focused on a surgeon that burns their initials into patients' bodies.
Amazingly, some surgeons came to Bramhill's defence. In 2017, a brain surgeon, Henry Marsh, appeared to come to Bramhill's defence, in a piece he wrote for the Guardian newspaper. In which he said:
"The offence had been discovered by another surgeon, who had reoperated on the patient some years later... You may well wonder why the second surgeon felt obliged to report his discovery to the hospital authorities, as knowledge of the signature was the only thing that might conceivably distress the patient. All surgeons have skeletons in their cupboards of one sort or another, and we are loth to denounce our colleagues unless something especially egregious has taken place. When problems like this come to public attention, it often reflects animosity and conflict within a surgical department. If I have learned anything from my life as a surgeon, and the many countries in which I have worked, it is that the self-confidence that surgery requires can easily lead to excessive self-belief and bitter enmity between colleagues."
[Based on reporting by: Futurism]
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