Indian 'Doctor Death' linked to deaths

Indian-trained surgeon, J Patel, may be charged with 28 crimes including manslaughter in Australia.

Australian police on Monday recommended that an Indian-trained surgeon dubbed "Doctor Death" for his mishandling of patients be charged with at least 28 crimes including manslaughter.

HT Image

Jayant Patel was linked by an official inquiry to the deaths of at least 13 patients at a hospital in the eastern state of Queensland during two years as director of surgery.

Queensland police said they were forwarding thousands of pages of evidence to the public prosecutor along with a recommendation that Patel be charged with four counts of manslaughter, 8 of grievous bodily harm and 16 of fraud.

Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said up to 200 further charges of grievous bodily harm could be added to the case as investigations continue.

"I would like to stress that these briefs only relate to some of the complaints and police will continue to investigate a large number of other matters," Atkinson said.

If the prosecutor goes ahead with the charges, the matter will be forwarded to federal officials and then to US authorities.

Patel fled Australia to his previous home in the US state of Oregon in April 2005 after allegations about his incompetence were raised in the Queensland parliament.

Patel began working at the Bundaberg Base hospital in 2003 after a 20-year career of botched operations and surgical malpractice claims which saw him banned from surgery in New York and Oregon.

He failed to disclose his checkered record when applying for the job in Australia.

An investigation into numerous suspicious deaths at Bundaberg was launched in March 2005 after a nurse sounded the alarm over his alleged mishandling of surgical operations.

During a subsequent commission of inquiry, allegations were made linking Patel to as many as 87 patient deaths.