A surgeon who was stripped of his medical license after burning his initials 'SB' into patients' transplanted livers looks back on those days.



British surgeon Simon Bramhall was found guilty in January 2022 of ``carving his initials 'SB' into a patient's liver'' and had his medical license revoked. However, some patients have also submitted petitions asking for donations to pay fines or for reinstatement.

'I know someone who played noughts and crosses on one': meet the top surgeon who burned his initials on a patient's liver | Doctors | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/mar/16/surgeon-who-signed-patients-livers



In 2013, Bramhall, who was working as a liver surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEHB) in Birmingham, England, successfully performed a liver transplant on a patient with acute liver failure on August 21st. By this time, Bramhall had already performed nearly 400 liver transplants and was a well-known liver transplant specialist.

However, a few days after the surgery, it was discovered that the transplanted liver was malfunctioning. A second emergency transplant surgery was performed soon after, but another surgeon who performed the surgery noticed that the letters 'SB' about 4 cm high had been burned into the liver that had been transplanted a few days earlier. It became clear. It was clear that it was Bramhall who had these initials burned into his liver. One anesthesiologist reported that ``During a liver transplant surgery on February 9, 2013, Bramhall carved his initials into another patient's liver.'' A nurse who attended the surgery on August 21, 2013, saw Bramhall carving initials into the patient's liver and asked, 'What are you doing?' In response to the nurse's question, Bramhall replies, 'This is how I do it.'

The surgeon then reported Bramhall's actions to the hospital. Bramhall was suspended on December 18, 2013. At the end of his five-month suspension, Bramhall resigned from QEHB and continued to work at Hereford County Hospital until June 2020. In 2018, Bramhall was fined £10,000 and given a 120-hour community service order for ``carving his initials into two patients during surgery''. It has been decided that Bramhall's

medical license will be revoked in 2022.

It has been reported that some patients who had their initials carved into their livers have been traumatized by Bramhall's actions and are suffering from mental health issues. The patient said: ``The horror of seeing a photo of my liver with the initials 'SB' will stay with me forever. It's scary to think about it. This incident has shattered my trust in my doctor.'



However, another victim, Tracy Scriven, said, ``Bramhall saved me. I don't care at all about having my initials carved into it.'' Former patients of Bramhall's surgery have also raised thousands of pounds in donations to cover Bramhall's fines, and nearly 900 people have started

a petition calling for Bramhall to be reinstated. is signed. Former patients say, ``Surgeons who take pride in their work and carve their initials into patients' livers should be celebrated and never vilified.''

Looking back on those days, Bramhall later said, ``The surgery on August 21st was extremely difficult.There was a sense of tension in the operating room, and when the surgery was successful, there was a sense of relief, which led to the act of carving one's initials.'' In hindsight, this behavior was inappropriate and not the right thing to do.However, at the time, it must have felt like it was the right thing to do.'' I'm talking. He also said, ``My initials, which were engraved using an argon beam coagulator , would disappear within a few days, so I did not expect that they would come to light after surgery.''

Looking back on his own trial, Bramhall said, ``Having the judge say, ``What you did was an abuse of power and a betrayal of trust in the doctor'' was more difficult to bear than the death of my parents. 'I did,' he says. But when asked if he felt any remorse for the trauma caused to the patients whose initials were carved, Bramhall said: ``I am ashamed of what I did, but I never hurt my patients.'' ``If it wasn't for my surgery, this patient would have died.''



Regarding life after his medical license was revoked, Bramhall said: ``I have an incredibly supportive wife. I brought her into my misfortunes, but without her I wouldn't be here.'' I don't think there was.' Bramhall also summarized the series of events in his work `` Deceitful Blood .''

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