SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
Also at BBC and The Guardian.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @04:48AM (4 children)
To my brother's car with some sort of sharp implement (we don't give him argon beam guns) when he was nine.
I mean he wrote his name. It's not like folks wouldn't know who did it.
And, AFAICT, my nephew got in more trouble for that than this surgeon did.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14 2017, @04:56AM (3 children)
Bad car analogy! It takes work (or money) to repair automotive paint. The little initials that the surgeon left behind will disappear in time, and have no effect on liver function.
I would hope that surgeons would get into a lot more trouble if they left a sponge or tool in the patient--something that will cause future problems.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday December 14 2017, @07:18AM
But proving who left the sponge, knife, or whatever is hard.
This was easy!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DECbot on Thursday December 14 2017, @05:22PM (1 child)
So, you're saying that this is more like the mechanic drawing a penis in the condensation on a car's windshield. No lasting or permanent damage, but annoying as fuck to the driver and completely unprofessional.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday December 14 2017, @09:44PM
More like a Tattoo Artist using a permanent marker to initial your thigh. Won't generally be noticed and will eventually wear off, but kinda messed up.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"