AUSTRALIA, JULY 10, 2005
Hedley Thomas and AAP
The courier mail.
ROGUE surgeon Jayant Patel should be charged with
murder, the head of a commission of inquiry has recommended.
In an interim inquiry report presented to the Queensland
government today, inquiry head Tony Morris, QC, also
recommends Dr Jayant Patel be charged with a negligent
act causing harm, fraud, and making false representations.
The former Bundaberg Hospital director of surgery
has been linked with 87 deaths at the hospital.
The proposed murder charge relates to Dr Patel's
actions regarding patient James Edwards Phillips.
Mr Morris said in his report an alternative charge
of manslaughter could be considered.
"We consider that a prima facie case of manslaughter
(at least) is made out in relation to patient capital
P34 (James Edward Phillips)," Mr Morris said
in the report. Dr Patel's exact whereabouts is not
known, but he could be in Oregon in the United States,
where he practised previously, or in India where he
has relatives.
Dr Patel is a 55-year-old citizen of the US, which
has an extradition arrangement with Australia.
The fraud charges relate to his lies to Queensland
Health in 2003 to cover up US findings against him
for botched surgery in Oregon, shortly before he took
the $200,000-a-year Bundaberg job.
A Queensland Police Service spokesman confirmed last
night detectives were on standby to investigate matters
referred to them by the inquiry.
He said police needed a brief of evidence before
they could launch extradition proceedings to get Dr
Patel back to Australia.
Dr Patel fled Queensland in early April, just 10
days before The Courier-Mail discovered his shocking
US background. He was last seen in Portland, Oregon,
where he has retained a criminal lawyer to follow
evidence emerging from the inquiry led by Mr Morris.
In a brief statement from the health inquiry last
night, the interim report by Mr Morris was said to
contain "certain matters arising out of the existing
terms of reference of the commission of inquiry and
the evidence received . . . to date".
News of today's interim report follows a meeting
between Premier Peter Beattie and Mr Morris on Wednesday
afternoon. Senior counsel assisting the inquiry, David
Andrews, SC, also attended the briefing.
The pair told Mr Beattie there was "no present
need to amend the terms of reference".
The statement released last night said Mr Morris
"remains optimistic that no extension of time
will be necessary" beyond the scheduled September
30.
The interim report has been produced after just two
weeks of public sittings and only six weeks after
the commission of inquiry was announced.
Mr Beattie congratulated Mr Morris for moving so
quickly, and said the Government would "move
quickly on the recommendations as the people of Bundaberg
and the people of Queensland would expect us to".
This morning he gave a special cabinet briefing on
the interim report before releasing it to state parliament.
The health inquiry's public sittings in Brisbane
were adjourned last Friday and will recommence in
Bundaberg on June 20. The commission is expected to
sit there for up to three weeks before returning to
Brisbane for several more weeks of hearings.
More than 100 of Dr Patel's former patients and family
members have launched legal action against the State
Government over the scandal.
