A British surgeon who burned his initials onto patients' livers during transplant operations has been fined the equivalent of $17,100 Cdn and ordered to perform community service.

Simon Bramhall pleaded guilty last month to two counts of assault in a case a prosecutor called "without legal precedent in criminal law."

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 when one of the transplants had failed, for reasons unrelated to the branding.

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."

The judge accepted that the patients were not physically harmed, but said one had suffered "extreme and enduring" psychological stress after learning what had happened.

"What you did was an abuse of power and a betrayal of trust that these patients had invested in you," the judge said.

According to a BBC report, Bramhall is still employed with the National Health Service in another city, but could face additional censure, including the possibility of losing his licence, when his case is reviewed by British medical regulators.