Latest news with #GraemePerks
Telegraph
09-06-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Just how psychopathic are surgeons?
These are the people we trust to hold a sharpened knife above our bare bellies and press down until they see blood. We let them tinker with our hearts, brains and bowels while we lie unconscious beneath their gloved hands. Surgeons live in a world of terrifying margins, where the difference of a millimetre can be the difference between life and death. That level of precision demands an extraordinary calm, or what you could also call a cold detachment. But what happens when that same self-possession curdles into something darker? In recent weeks, two surgeons have made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In France, Joël Le Scouarnec was sentenced for abusing hundreds of children – some while they lay anaesthetised in his care. In the UK, plastic surgeon Peter Brooks was convicted of the attempted murder of fellow consultant Graeme Perks, whom he stabbed after breaking into his home in Nottinghamshire. Today, Brooks was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years at Loughborough Courthouse. It would, of course, be absurd to taint an entire profession with the acts of two individuals. But it does resurface a long-standing, uncomfortable question: might the very traits that make a surgeon brilliant also mask something far more troubling? 'When people hear the word psychopath, they tend to think of serial killers and rapists,' says Dr Kevin Dutton, a psychologist and the author of The Wisdom of Psychopaths. 'But the truth is that certain psychopathic traits – focus, emotional dispassion, ruthlessness, self-confidence – can predispose you to success, and in an operating theatre, they really come to the fore.' Dutton has spent much of his career trying to prove that 'bad psychopaths' – people who have these characteristics but who can't regulate them – are the ones who commit crimes. A 'good psychopath', by contrast, is someone who can dial those qualities up and down at whim. He recalls one neurosurgeon who was regularly brought to tears by bits of classical music, but who also said, 'Emotion is entropy. I have hunted it to extinction over the years.' Similarly, a cardiothoracic surgeon told him that once a patient was under, he no longer saw them as a person – just a piece of meat. 'Once you care, you are walking an emotional tightrope,' says Dutton, 'but if you see the human body in front of you as a puzzle to solve, then you are more likely to save their life.' 'There's a ruthless part of me' Gabriel Weston, a London-based surgeon and the author of Direct Red: A Surgeon's Story, describes her profession as one that requires you to 'flick off a switch'. Sent to boarding school at a young age (much of British surgery is the product of elite schools), Weston learnt early how to detach emotionally – a skill she found served her well in the theatre. 'If you asked my family, they'd say I'm very emotional in that I cry in films or at art or literature,' she says. 'But there's a ruthless part of me. I use that in surgery – and in other parts of life where emotion just gets in the way.' Over time, Weston learnt to distinguish between two kinds of surgeons: those who switch their feelings back on once they leave the operating room, and those who never do. 'They don't just have psychopathic traits,' she says. 'They live in that space permanently.' They can also come with a reputation for being not just difficult, but dangerous. Harry Thompson*, a British abdominal surgeon, describes a world of towering egos and simmering aggression. 'If you think about it, all surgeons were in the top five of their class,' he says. 'They are all very competitive, and many play sports: they want to prove they are better than everyone. And if you are at the forefront of major surgery, you think you are invincible. It's a boiling-house environment of jealousy, envy and hatred.' He recalls one consultant who stabbed a plain-clothes policeman with a disposable scalpel after being stopped for speeding en route to the theatre. Another smashed a ward office clock when a nurse arrived five minutes late. Physical assaults were, he says, more common than you would think. 'I was in one operation when a student, John, was an hour and a half late, because he overslept. The surgeon thumped the student's head against the theatre wall until he was unconscious, screamed, 'Nobody move!' then started kicking him. No one ever saw John again.' Nor is the patient always spared. 'When I was training, I saw one surgeon thump a patient for removing a drain from his own bottom after an operation because it had become painful,' says Thompson. 'The patient only admitted this (in tears) after the surgeon had made the nurses and junior doctors line up and interrogated each one in turn about who had done it.' Thompson used to work with Simon Bramhall – the liver surgeon who made headlines and was later struck off for branding his initials onto patients' livers using a laser. 'Simon had always been a bit mad,' says Thompson. 'He was fascinated by the programme Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and he always wore a white suit [like the character Hopkirk], tie, shoes and socks.' As for tattooing his patients' organs: the initials were discovered by his colleagues only during a second surgery when his once-subtle etching was now grotesquely enlarged by liver damage. While Bramhall's actions sparked public outrage, some in the medical community were nonplussed. Perhaps because this is a far more commonplace occurrence than we realise: an article in Harper's Magazine cited examples of anonymous ophthalmic surgeons who had lasered their initials onto retinas, and orthopaedic surgeons who had etched theirs into bone cement. 'Why would you do that? Ego, of course,' says Dutton, 'and it isn't incidental in surgery. It's selected for. From the moment you start training, you have to fight – quite literally – for your space at the operating table.' 'I find it very freeing not to be pleasant' Dutton researched which of the various disciplines within the profession had the highest rates of psychopathy, and the results are revealing. Number one is neurosurgery (which is bad luck for any fans of Grey's Anatomy), followed by cardiothoracic or heart surgery and then orthopaedic. 'The last one is brutal as you have to smash people's bones,' says Dutton. 'Cardio more than anything is about life and death, but neurosurgery is particularly interesting to me. I think it's because this is the only branch of surgery where, if something goes wrong, you leave the patient permanently crippled or blinded or incapacitated, so only very few people can take such a calculated risk under pressure.' And though these traits are often seen as typically male, women are by no means exempt. Weston says the most difficult surgeon she ever worked under was a woman. 'She was very attractive and well-liked – mostly for being gorgeous and good at her job – but privately she made my life hell. Maybe she didn't like another woman being on the team but she did that horrible thing that women do of presenting this incredibly benign face while being very cruel in private. For months, she blamed me for mistakes that weren't mine, stole credit for my diagnoses, and made me feel like my surgical skills were terrible. She was truly villainous.' And yet, Weston admits, the operating theatre offers her a rare freedom: 'If you are a woman who is quite tough and unsentimental, surgery is a really amazing environment in which you can be yourself. There are many areas of my life – mainly motherhood, but also writing – where there is an expectation that I will be softer than I am. Like Simone de Beauvoir, I find it very freeing not to be pleasant.' Perhaps there is something in all of this (criminal and violent behaviour aside) that we, as patients, secretly find reassuring. We don't want our surgeons to hesitate. We don't want them to be emotional or anxious. We want them to be brilliant: laser-focused, supremely confident, even terrifying if that's what it takes to save us. In life, we dislike arrogance. On the operating table, many of us yearn for it. 'I had one boss,' says Thompson, 'a French surgeon. He used to say: 'There are the porters, the nurses, the managers – and then there are the surgeons. Above them, God. And above God? Me.''
The Independent
09-06-2025
- The Independent
Burns specialist who tried to set fire to colleague's home is sentenced
Peter Brooks, a 61-year-old burns specialist, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 22 years for attempting to murder his colleague, Graeme Perks, and set fire to his home in Halam, Nottinghamshire. Brooks attacked Perks at his home in January 2021, stabbing him and dousing the property in petrol; Perks, who had provided evidence in disciplinary proceedings against Brooks, suffered life-threatening injuries. The prosecution argued that Brooks hated Perks and wanted him "out of the way," while the defence claimed the attack was a "single act of violence" with no extensive pre-planning. Perks described the attack as an "unimaginable catastrophe" for his family but expressed no hatred towards Brooks, while his son, Henry Perks, called Brooks a "highly dangerous and remorseless individual." Brooks, who was voluntarily absent from his trial due to a hunger strike, did not attend the sentencing hearing; the judge described his crimes as "appalling" and noted his history of using hunger strikes to manipulate the legal process.
The Independent
09-06-2025
- The Independent
Plastic surgeon who attempted to murder fellow doctor is jailed for life
A plastic surgeon who stabbed a fellow doctor after trying to set fire to his house because he wanted him 'out of the way' has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years. Peter Brooks, 61, knifed Graeme Perks and doused the ground floor of his house with petrol with intent to set it on fire after cycling to the property in Halam, near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, in the early hours of January 14 2021. Jailing him at Leicester Crown Court, sitting in Loughborough, on Monday, Judge Mr Justice Pepperall said Brooks had committed 'appalling' crimes after setting off from his home on a 'murderous expedition'. Brooks, who was 'voluntarily absent' from his month-long trial because he was on hunger strike and said he would 'rather be dead than incarcerated', did not appear in person for the sentencing hearing on Monday after refusing to leave his cell. Stephen Leslie KC, defending, said Brooks had said he was too unwell to make the journey to court and instead listened to proceedings via video link from HMP Norwich. Mr Justice Pepperall previously told the court that on 'no fewer than eight occasions' since 2021 Brooks, formerly of Landseer Road, Southwell, had 'used hunger strikes or the threat of some other self-harm to achieve some advantage'. Brooks' convictions followed a four-year series of legal hearings, including a mistrial and seven other aborted trial dates. The consultant, specialising in burns and plastics, was convicted in April of two counts of attempted murder, one for the intended use of fire and the other for the stabbing, attempted arson with intent to endanger life, and possession of a knife in a public place. The trial was told Brooks had cycled in the snow to Mr Perks' home during a Covid lockdown wearing camouflage gear and armed with a crowbar, petrol, matches and a knife. Mr Perks, a consultant plastic surgeon, had provided evidence in disciplinary proceedings against Brooks, who faced potentially losing his job with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, the jury heard. When opening the prosecution's case, Tracy Ayling KC had told the trial it was 'clear that the defendant hated Graeme Perks' and wanted him 'out of the way'. Mr Perks, who was 65 at the time, had retired the month before the attack but suffered 'extremely life-threatening' injuries to his liver, intestines and pancreas, and was given a 95% chance of death. The victim woke up when Brooks smashed through his conservatory, and went downstairs where his feet 'felt a bit damp' from the petrol before he felt a 'blow to his body'. The court was told Brooks had also thrown petrol up the stair walls while Mr Perks' wife Bev and youngest son Henry were sleeping upstairs. The defendant was found asleep on a garden bench later that morning when he was taken to hospital for injuries to his hand, and was arrested. In a victim impact statement read to the court by Ms Ayling, Mr Perks said the incident had been an 'unimaginable catastrophe' for him and his family. He said: 'This has been a nightmare for my wife and son who must have wondered if I was going to survive. 'This has been beyond every struggle in our lives so far.' He added: 'I have no ill-feelings, hatred or bitterness towards my ex-colleague and derive no satisfaction from the guilty conviction. 'It is just another interesting chapter in life, and I wish his family well. 'I remain eternally grateful that it was me, not Bev or Henry who were stabbed, and reflect how ironic that a burns surgeon should wish to immolate our family.' Henry Perks, Mr Perks' son, described Brooks as a 'highly dangerous and remorseless individual' and 'nothing more than a bully', adding: 'He simply has no morals, sees no wrong in his actions and will stop at nothing to hurt those he perceives to have wronged him. 'I have no doubt his failure to silence my father will consume his mind and make him dangerous in the years after his release.' Ms Ayling said Brooks was 'manipulative' and had shown no remorse for what he had done. She said: 'He believes himself to be not guilty of the offences. He believes he has been unlawfully tried. 'He has a history of being manipulative.' Mitigating, Mr Leslie said it was a 'single act of violence' and that there was no pre-planning beyond the day of the attack. He said Brooks had petrol in his garage because he was a motorbike enthusiast and that he is 'beginning to show remorse' for what he had done. He told the court: 'He has done a lot of good in the world for many people. He should be provided with a chance to reform himself. There is still good in him. 'He is now 61, he must have the opportunity of coming out in his lifetime to return to society and be given the opportunity to carry out the good work he has demonstrated.' Mr Justice Pepperall said Brooks must serve a minimum of 22 years, with time spent in prison already taking that to 17 years and 223 days, for the two counts of attempted murder. A sentence of six years for arson and 18 months for possessing a knife are to run concurrently. The judge said Brooks, who specialised in treating burns, would have known the significant damage setting a fire would have caused as well as how badly Mr Perks would have been injured when he plunged a knife into him. He said Brooks was 'fixated' on employment difficulties he was facing and blamed Mr Perks for his troubles, with his 'sense of grievance developing into deep anger' as he faced losing his career and his home. Mr Justice Pepperall said he could not be sure whether Brooks had spent more than a few hours before breaking into Mr Perks' house planning the 'murderous expedition' and despite Brooks' claims he had acted in self-defence when confronted by Mr Perks, the judge said he was sure that the defendant was the 'sole aggressor'. He also said he could not detect any remorse for what he had done, and instead that Brooks felt 'self-pity for the situation you find yourself in'. In a statement after Brooks was sentenced, Sam Shallow from the Crown Prosecution Service said: 'Peter Brooks committed an act of extreme violence, attempting to murder a highly respected colleague. 'This was a planned, calculated attack, in which Brooks showed he was determined to kill his former colleague. 'Since committing these atrocious acts, Brooks has sought to evade responsibility. He has requested late adjournments, dispensed with his legal team, and used his health to avoid proper progress of the court proceedings. 'On each of the nine occasions the case has been listed at court, the prosecution team has been ready. 'Justice has now caught up with Brooks. 'His victim was fortunate to escape with his life and his whole family were in danger from Brooks's inexplicable actions. 'Despite the physical and emotional trauma they have endured, they have come to court to tell their story on two separate occasions. 'This has been a long process for them, but I hope that finally seeing these proceedings coming to a close will help them in their recovery from this ordeal.'
The Independent
09-06-2025
- The Independent
Plastic surgeon jailed for trying to kill colleague during Covid lockdown
Peter Brooks, 61, has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years at Loughborough Courthouse after attempting to murder fellow plastic surgeon Graeme Perks, who he stabbed during a failed arson attack in January 2021.
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- The Guardian
Plastic surgeon jailed for life over attempted murder of fellow doctor
A plastic surgeon who attempted to murder a colleague he 'hated' has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years. Jonathan Peter Brooks, 61, known as Peter, who specialised in treating burn scars, broke into the Nottinghamshire home of Graeme Perks in the middle of the night on 14 January 2021 wearing camouflage gear and doused the floor with petrol with the intention of setting it alight. After being disturbed by Perks, who was a witness in a disciplinary hearing against him, Brooks stabbed the 'highly respected' fellow surgeon in the abdomen. Brooks was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, one of attempted arson with intent to endanger life and one count of possession of a bladed article, on 7 April after a four-week trial at Leicester crown court, sitting in Loughborough. More details soon …
