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Australia will next month apply for the extradition from the United States of Jayant Patel, the surgeon dubbed "Dr Death" by the media after allegedly causing the deaths of up to 17 patients at a Queensland hospital.
Patel, an Indian-born American citizen, was arrested at his home in
Portland, Oregon by the FBI and remanded in custody after a brief court appearance.
Patel will seek bail, but has not yet indicated if he will fight extradition - a move that Australian legal experts have warned could present special complications and might be bogged down for years in appeals.
The case, which involves 16 charges including manslaughter, also sparked a bitter political row within Queensland and has been joined by a number of other, similar, allegations that have raised serious concerns over the oversight of doctors in Australia's public health system.
Patel's case emerged after patients died under his care at Bundaberg Base Hospital, with a Government inquiry later finding that he had negligently caused 13 deaths, and possibly as many as 17.
As the row grew, Patel returned to live in the US. He was arrested on Tuesday night to face an extradition request for his return to Queensland to face charges including manslaughter, causing grievous bodily harm, committing negligent acts or omissions causing harm, and fraud.
If convicted, he could face a life sentence. He will face charges embracing 35,000 pages of evidence and concerns that his lawyers will contest his return on the grounds that he will not receive a fair trial, and on technicalities of the extraditiontreaty between Australia and the US.
Australian National University Professor of International Law Don Rothwell said that the US would need to be convinced that the charges against Patel were recognised under the treaty, and that those charges were the only ones that could be pursued against him after his return.
Patel could also argue that a fair trial was not possible.
"Given the publicity associated with Dr Patel's case in Queensland there would certainly be grounds for this argument being mounted before the US courts," Rothwell said.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said that a lengthy legal process lay ahead, with the case for extradition needing to be "rock solid".
Beryl Crosby, co-convenor of the Bundaberg Hospital Patients' Support Group, welcomed Patel's arrest after a long, hard struggle that had tested the faith of her members.
She told Channel Seven that the former patients would now let justice take its course.
