A British surgeon who secretly burned his initials onto patients’ livers during transplant operations has been spared jail by a sympathetic judge.
Simon Bramhall pleaded guilty last month to two counts of assault in a case a prosecutor said had no legal precedent in criminal law.
Due to the unprecedented nature of the case, the judge let Bramhall escape prison with just a $17,100 fine.
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Cbc.ca reports:
Bramhall, 53, used an argon beam coagulator, which seals bleeding blood vessels with an electric beam, to mark his initials on the organs.
The surgeon resigned from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in 2014 after another doctor discovered what he had done. The hospital said there was “no impact whatsoever” on the success of the operations.
Passing sentence Friday at Birmingham Crown Court in central England, Judge Paul Farrer said Bramhall displayed “professional arrogance of such magnitude that it strayed into criminal behaviour.”
