British Surgeon Branded Initials on Transplant Livers

When you're an artist, it's considered customary to sign your work. When you're a surgeon, it's considered bizarre and illegal. 

Renowned British surgeon Simon Bramhall, who branded his initials on the livers of at least two transplant patients in 2013, pleaded guilty to assault Wednesday, the BBC reports. The liver, spleen, and pancreas surgeon used an argon beam—normally used to stop livers from bleeding or to sketch out areas to be operated on—to brand "SB" on the patients' organs. 

Such marks usually disappear on their own, but Bramhall's handiwork was discovered when a colleague operated on a patient whose liver had failed to heal normally, the Guardian reports. Bramhall was suspended from Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital and resigned after a disciplinary hearing in 2014.

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