`Dr Death` Jayant Patel sentenced to 7 years in jail

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Jul 1 (PTI) Indian-origin surgeon Jayant
Patel, dubbed "Dr Death" for botching up a string of
operations, was Thursday sentenced to seven years in jail on
manslaughter charges for killing three patients and causing
permanent harm to another.
60-year-old Patel, now a US citizen, was convicted by
a Brisbane jury two days earlier on three counts of
manslaughter, while serving as a surgeon in a Queensland
hospital between 2003-2005.
The sentence was handed out by Justice John Byrne of
the Queensland state's supreme court in Brisbane and comes 25
years after questions were first raised about the doctor's
competency to perform some surgeries.
Patel's legal team is preparing to appeal against the
conviction and under Queensland law prisoners can apply for
parole after they serve 50 per cent of their sentence.
Arguing for a maximum sentence of 10 years, the
prosecutor Ross Martin said there could be no worse case of
criminal medical negligence, while the defence pleaded for a
suspended sentence with no prison time.
Martin also argued Patel had a history of
professional misconduct charges in the USA dating back to
1982.
Sentencing him Judge John Bryne observed, "The
community denounces your repeated serious disregard for the
welfare of the four patients."
The travails of Patel who has also been labelled
'Killer Surgeon' by media here are not over as some of his
other patients have threatened to move a class action suit
against him.
The case of "Dr Death" gained an immense interest
across Australia and has prompted Rural Doctors Association of
Queensland (RDAQ) warning that the Patel trial has made it
harder to attract doctors to the state.
RDAQ spokesman Dan Halliday said one of the legacies
of the case has been more stringent vetting of
overseas-trained doctors.
He said about 50 per cent of doctors in rural and
regional areas are from overseas and the extra checks on their
credentials have made some doctors look elsewhere.
"I know of a couple of instances specifically where
I believe suitably trained doctors have gone elsewhere, mainly
due to the red tape that has been associated with them
practising in Queensland," he said.
"We believe that the processes that they've put in
place on some cases are too onerous and too restrictive, which
has prevented a number of medical owners and practitioners
staying in, and coming to, Queensland. PTI