'Dr Death's' 22-year trail

Jayant Patel

SYDNEY - An Indian surgeon dubbed "Dr Death" whose alleged incompetence may have killed 20 patients at an Australian hospital was first investigated for unprofessional conduct more than 20 years ago.

Dr Jayant Patel, 55, was found guilty of intimidating patients and falsifying medical records when he worked in the United States in the early 1980s.

He was at the start of his surgical career when authorities in New York declared him incompetent and morally unfit to practise medicine.

Patel fled Australia at Easter while he was the subject of a clinical audit over his questionable treatment of at least 14 patients at the main hospital in Bundaberg, southern Queensland.

He was tracked down last week to Portland, Oregon, but is now believed to have gone into hiding in India.

The whistle-blower nurse who exposed the scandal, Toni Hoffman, believes Patel could be linked to the deaths of 20 patients during the two years he worked at Bundaberg.

Dozens of other patients claim they were victims of Patel's incompetence and at least 12 need urgent corrective surgery, with the cost to be borne by the state Government.

Patel operated on about 200 patients, and new horror stories are emerging daily.

Questions over why his shady past was not uncovered by Queensland's medical authorities have fuelled public anger and created a crisis for Premier Peter Beattie.
He has been forced to order a commission of inquiry into the scandal, amid calls from the state opposition for a much wider-ranging investigation into the entire Queensland health system.

Beattie has apologised to the patients and families who suffered as a result of treatment by Patel.

A booming economy means Australia has an acute labour shortage, with many professions, including doctors and nurses, in high demand.

Unable to fill positions with Australian medical staff, hospitals have turned to foreign doctors. Queensland alone employs about 1700 overseas doctors.

The Australian Medical Association says most are highly skilled, have assimilated into Australian life and play a vital role in keeping hospitals adequately staffed.

A minority, however, from Africa, south Asia, the Middle East and Cuba, have needed to be closely scrutinised.

"In the last few years both state and federal Governments have known that doctors can come into this country with credentials that don't meet Australian standards," said association president Dr Bill Glasson.

After announcing the inquiry, Beattie acknowledged that he needed to re-establish public confidence in the system used for recruiting overseas doctors.

"Frankly, until we have more Australian doctors, we can't operate without them, otherwise there will not be medical services provided to Queensland," he said.

The association warned the federal Government of problems with overseas-trained doctors in 2002, but says the advice was ignored.

"A door has to fall off the hinge rather than just squeak before the Government will act," said Glasson.

Patel was recruited as director of surgery by Bundaberg Base Hospital despite the fact that he was called before a medical complaints panel in New York state in 1983 on a range of charges, including failing to examine patients prior to surgery, abusing patients who made complaints about him and entering fraudulent information on patients' medical records.

He was fined US$5000 and suspended for six months after authorities found him guilty of "gross negligence".

Nearly two decades later, he had moved to Oregon, and in 2001 was again found guilty of medical negligence.

He nevertheless gained accreditation to practise medicine in Australia and moved to Bundaberg in 2003.

He found the job through an Australian recruitment company and submitted fraudulent registration documents that the Queensland Medical Board failed to check.

Beattie has vowed to track down Patel and have him extradited back to Australia.