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posted by mrpg on Thursday December 14 2017, @12:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the ! dept.

A surgeon has admitted to branding the livers of two patients using a beam of ionized argon gas:

Bramhall previously worked at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital, where he gained fame for a dramatic liver transplant in 2010. Bramhall transplanted a liver following the fiery crash-landing of the plane that was transporting the donor liver to Birmingham. Though the pilots were injured, the liver was intact and salvaged from the burning wreckage. The transplant spared the life of Dr. Bramhall's desperately ill patient.

But in 2013, colleagues discovered that he had been initialing his patients' organs. Doctors first spotted the letters "SB" on the liver of one of Bramhall's transplant patients during a follow-up surgery. They later learned of initials on another patient. Bramhall was suspended in 2013 and resigned in 2014 amid an internal investigation into the etchings. Earlier this year, the General Medical Council issued Bramhall a formal warning, saying at the time that Bramhall's case "risks bringing the profession into disrepute, and it must not be repeated."

Bramhall etched his initials using an argon beam—a jet of ionized argon gas—which surgeons use to control bleeding during procedures. Doctors who are part of the investigation don't think the marks are harmful and expect them to clear up on their own.

Relevant PBF.

Also at BBC and The Guardian.


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  • (Score: 2) by Virindi on Thursday December 14 2017, @02:30AM (2 children)

    by Virindi (3484) on Thursday December 14 2017, @02:30AM (#609556)

    We have a word for this: "battery". What the doctor did was a crime. He should be prosecuted, not just given some administrative penalty.

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @04:50AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @04:50AM (#609590)

    Does the patient have anything to say about this crime you speak of (battery)? If this surgeon just saved my life (or greatly improved my quality of life), then I wouldn't really care if he tagged the new liver--I would be grateful to him.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @11:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @11:32AM (#609654)

    You mean, the liver could be used for storing electricity afterwards? :-)