Surgeon banned from medicine after stamping his trademark initials on patients’ livers

A British surgeon, who put his initials on the livers of two patients, has lost his ability to practice medicine in the UK.

In 2017 Simon bramhall, a liver, spleen and pancreas surgeon, pleaded guilty to inscribing his initials on two patients on whom he performed liver transplants in February and August 2013 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England.

the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service reported that he used an argon beam machine to leave his monogram on both patients’ new livers.

These imprinted initials were found by another doctor about a week after one of the transplant surgeries when the liver lack.

Bramhall was subsequently suspended from his post at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, before eventually resigning in 2014 amid the ongoing investigation.

Bramhall was charged with 12 months of community service, as well as a fine of £10,000 ($13,666.35) on two counts of assault and beating.

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In December 2020, the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service suspended removed him from medical practice for five months, but following a review hearing on June 4, 2021, the suspension order was revoked.

The court at the time said it was “satisfied there was no discernible risk of recurrence”.

A High Court judge, however, rejected the second decision sending Bramhall’s case return to the Service of the Court of Practicing Physicians, and thus ending the days of the surgeon in the operating room.

The court declared a suspension was “insufficient to protect the broader public interest” and the only “appropriate and proportionate sanction” was to remove Bramhall’s name from the medical register.

“The physical assault of two vulnerable patients while unconscious in a clinical setting, one of whom suffered significant and lasting emotional harm, seriously undermines patient and public confidence in the medical profession and inevitably throws the discredit on the profession as a whole.”

Bramhall tried to justify his actions for police at the time of the inquest saying he had marked both livers as a way to lighten the mood in the operating room following a long and stressful operation, which the court found excused unacceptable.

“The court rejected the claim made on behalf of Mr Bramhall that it was to relieve tension. It was an act born of a degree of professional arrogance.”

Bramhall’s story quickly went viral on Twitter, with many expressing complete and utter disbelief that a doctor could be so reckless with his patients.

However, not everyone was horrified by Bramhall’s actions.

Some Twitter users were openly opposed to having his medical license revoked, citing his previous glowing reputation and the fact that he caused no lasting physical harm to patients, with some even promoting a petition to have him reinstated. .

While Bramhall’s days in the operating room are over, he seems to be looking for other ways to restore his damaged reputation.

With his writing partner Fionn Murphy, Bramhall turned his fall from grace into a novel titled The Letterman.

Self-published by Bramhall and Murphy, the book description reads:

“All it takes is a split second.”

“One moment of madness – and nothing will ever be the same again.”

“A surgeon turns out to have inscribed his initials on a donor liver during a life-saving transplant operation, and everything changes, not just for him and his patient, but for everyone around them.”

“The ensuing conflict plays out in the medical world, the global media and ultimately, in the courts, where justice itself is judged.”

“At what cost is victory?

“Who Wins When Everyone Loses?”

On his Amazon Marketplace author page, Bramhall describes himself as a “recently retired” surgeon.