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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the $2500-per-letter dept.

The surgeon who admitted to burning his initials into the livers of two patients has been sentenced:

A surgeon who burned his initials on to the livers of two patients during transplant surgery has been given a 12-month community order and fined £10,000.

Simon Bramhall, 53, used an argon beam – used to stop livers bleeding during operations and to highlight an area to be worked on – to sign "SB" into his patient's livers. The marks left by argon do not impair the liver's function and disappear by themselves.

In December, the liver, spleen and pancreas surgeon admitted two counts of assault by beating. The offences relate to the incidents on 9 February and 21 August 2013. Prosecutors accepted his not guilty pleas to the more serious charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

[...] Bramhall tendered his resignation the following summer amid an internal disciplinary investigation into his conduct. Speaking to the press at the time, he said marking his initials on to his patients' livers had been a mistake. He now works for the NHS in Herefordshire.

More like assault by beaming.

Also at NPR.

Previously: Surgeon Branded Initials Into Patients' Livers With Argon Beam


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Arik on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:51PM (11 children)

    by Arik (4543) on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:51PM (#622250) Journal
    The man left a harmless mark that showed he took pride in his work. For that he is hated and punished. If he'd just killed his patients with incompetence and apathy no one would have noticed.

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:13PM (#622257)

    The man branded his patients that put their trust in him, and for THAT he is hated and punished. If I'm paying a guy to do something, I sure as hell expect him to do what he's suppose to do - not fucking sign his handy work on my innards. If you got time to sign your name after completing your assigned task, you have time to fucking sew me back up asap.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:30PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:30PM (#622278)

    *Checks posting history*
    See we like our Nazis in uniform. That way we can spot em just like that. But you take off that uniform ain’t no one ever gonna know you were a Nazi. And that don’t sit well with us. So I’m gonna give you a little something you can’t take off.

    • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:49PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:49PM (#622286)

      We like to give them a tattooed number so we can find them if they mix with the humans. We know they do not like to do honest work so we put them in camps where they are asked nicely to work. We take them out of our governments, our schools, our judicial system, our financial system and put them in camps where they cannot harm us. We shall be free of the jewish vermin.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:01PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:01PM (#622292)

        Those elitist hebrew jews think they're so special because they could read and write thousands of years before our illiterate germanic tribes.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:55PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:55PM (#622326)

          Could read and write but used it for criminal acts only. The most words about crime and wrongdoing come from Hebrew.

          Before Germanic tribes? One could be speaking of Egyptians, Mayans, ... who possessed knowledge to do good and live in harmony with nature. Jews only destroyed our planet and continue to do so.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:38PM (#622281)

    "My arse is not a canvas! My bottom is not a kissing post, sir. Okay, you can dress this up however you like, with your fancy words, but the truth remains that man, sitting there, kissed me on my bike rack and I was not expecting it and it rendered an expensive massage worthless. And I am here today so that no man need be kissed on his sweetmeats by this man ever again, unless they have arranged it beforehand for some reason. I will not be silent! I will never be silent! I will not stop until those lips are behind bars! How dare you? I trusted you. My trouser hams are not for sale, sir! I put my arse in your hands."

  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday January 15 2018, @12:20PM (3 children)

    by Wootery (2341) on Monday January 15 2018, @12:20PM (#622540)

    Pretty sure you're trolling, but anyway:

    For that he is hated and punished.

    He was not authorised to brand his initials on the patient's innards. I don't care how 'proud' he is, he is not the person who makes that decision. There's a word for surgery conducted without consent or necessity: 'violence'.

    As for 'harmless' - it left a mark on someone's insides. You can be imprisoned for less than that.

    • (Score: 2) by Arik on Monday January 15 2018, @12:49PM (2 children)

      by Arik (4543) on Monday January 15 2018, @12:49PM (#622545) Journal
      No I'm not trolling I'm completely serious, and completely disgusted with the hate mob reaction. If I ever need a surgeon this would be the guy I want.

      "As for 'harmless' - it left a mark on someone's insides."

      It left a mark, a mark that by all accounts caused no distress, no loss of function, and was not visible to anyone but the next surgeon, should there be another one. That's no harm.

      This is a story of absolute lunacy. A gifted surgeon saved your life and instead of being thankful to him you're raising a lynch mob? Because he signed his work? Are you freaking kidding me?

      This is why we can't have nice things. It's outrageous. This is a guy that should be honored, not destroyed.

      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @01:36PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @01:36PM (#622558)

        And if he spent an extra three hours in surgery tattooing an elaborate signature design because he was even more proud of his work, where do you draw the line? More time under increases costs and risks. Burning initials causes cell damage which the body then needs to spend resources repairing. The risk was low, but he wasn't being professional thus he was only fined and given more work.

        You want your dentist etching his initials into the back of all your teeth? That won't directly change their function, so harmless and perfectly ok? What about your hair dresser shaving in an ad for their business every time you went there? Hair grows back, no harm done. A car dealer changing your horn audio to "SERVICED AT XYZ". You shouldn't ever need to use your car horn anyway.

        • (Score: 2) by Arik on Monday January 15 2018, @02:21PM

          by Arik (4543) on Monday January 15 2018, @02:21PM (#622569) Journal
          "And if he spent an extra three hours in surgery tattooing an elaborate signature design because he was even more proud of his work, where do you draw the line? "

          Do you really have such a hard time drawing boundaries?

          If he billed an extra three hours there would be harm. He didn't do that. He spent a few seconds on his initials and no one even noticed until much later. Scale and context are important in everything in life.

          --
          If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by darkfeline on Wednesday January 17 2018, @04:27AM

    by darkfeline (1030) on Wednesday January 17 2018, @04:27AM (#623443) Homepage

    I see he's in good company, Mr. Sign All Of My Posts With My Signature Monospace Formatting.

    "No one cared who I was until I put on the monospace.

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