centered image

centered image

Surgery That Made Its Mark On Patients’ Lives As Well As Livers

Discussion in 'General Surgery' started by Dr.Scorpiowoman, Dec 19, 2017.

  1. Dr.Scorpiowoman

    Dr.Scorpiowoman Golden Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2016
    Messages:
    9,028
    Likes Received:
    414
    Trophy Points:
    13,075
    Gender:
    Female
    Practicing medicine in:
    Egypt

    A range of reactions to the news that consultant Simon Bramhall left his initials on the livers of some of his patients
    [​IMG]
    ‘Thanks to Simon Bramhall I am still alive and very active long after my projected demise,’ says Jim S Sandhu, a former patient of the controversial consultant surgeon.

    I was operated on by Simon Bramhall and team at the liver unit of the Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham, in 2006. Following colorectal surgery the previous year the cancer had spread – which entailed a resection of 75% of my liver. Following the operation, I was informed by one of his colleagues that on the balance of probability I had about five years to live.

    I had regular post-operative checks with Bramhall for four years. My treatment was professional, patient-focused and friendly. He always had a welcoming smile. I am horrified to read phrases like “assault by beating” applied to a thoroughly decent professional.

    Thanks to Bramhall I am still alive and very active long after my projected demise. It does not bug me one bit whether or not I have his initials on my liver.Emeritus Professor Jim S SandhuUniversity of Northumbria

    • Henry Marsh wonders why the surgeon who discovered that Simon Bramhall had marked his name on a patient’s liver felt obliged to report this to hospital authorities. I would be far more concerned if a surgeon found something like this and did not report it, therefore colluding in what Marsh acknowledges in his article is a wrongful action. (Marsh says that signing of the skulls of any of his own patients would have been “wholly inappropriate”.)

    Also, the seriousness of this action from a criminal point of view should be reflected in the outcome of Bramhall’s trial, which will provide a legal precedent for what I believe is a unique case. The court is the right place for an alleged offence of assault to be tested and it should not be left for the person who discovered it to be judge and jury.Alexis Livadeas Kidlington, Oxfordshire

    • Henry Marsh says that as patients we must trust our doctors and that it is not always easy. It is made much harder when they, including Marsh, see nothing criminal in a surgeon who behaves like a spoilt teenager and engraves his initials in his patients’ liver. He says it causes no physical harm, but it is indicative of the arrogance and contempt in which some members of the profession hold their patients.Nick Crook Batheaston, Somerset

    Source
     

    Add Reply

Share This Page

<