A surgeon has been suspended after allegedly branding his initials onto a transplant patient’s liver.

Consultant Simon Bramhall is accused of burning “SB” onto a patient’s liver during transplant surgery at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham, England. It is believed Bramhall used a beam of argon gas, which is used to seal vessels, to brand the patient.

Perhaps Bramhall was proud of his handiwork, who knows?, but it sounds like the kind of gruesome surgery you might expect to find in a film like Horror Hospital.

Bramhall had worked at Queen Elizabeth Hospital for more than ten years, and it is feared he may signed his name on hundreds of other patients.

The initials were discovered by a colleague during a routine surgery on the patient.

An “insider” at the hospital told the Daily Telegraph:

“It is quite astonishing to think someone may have done this, especially someone as experienced at Mr Bramhall.

“I am hoping this is just a mistake, I don’t know what would possess someone to do that to another human being.

“What gives a person the right to do that to another?

“There should be trust between the two people, although now people may think otherwise about coming to the hospital if the allegations are true.

“I’m just a little shocked that something like this may have happened right under everyone’s noses.

“Imagine if the person died and was an organ donor, would the new owner of that liver want it to be branded? I doubt it very much.

“It could have happened hundreds of times, who knows? It was just luck that this incident was brought to light.”

It is believed the branding would leave superficial burns, which are not “usually harmful.”

Joyce Roberts of Patient Concern said:

“This is a patient we are talking about, not an autograph book.”

University Hospitals Birmingham Trust has released a statement saying they had suspended a surgeon while an “internal investigation” is completed.
 

 
Via the Daily Telegraph