Patient of 'Dr Death' describes horror surgery

A former patient of Dr Jayant Patel told an inquiry in Australia yesterday how her stomach tore open after an operation and her wound was re-stitched without a proper anaesthetic.

Linda Parsons, 45, told the Morris inquiry into the so-called Dr Death scandal that she was subjected to a multitude of "traumatic" events after a stomach operation at Bundaberg Base Hospital, where the Indian-trained Patel was director of surgery.

They included her stomach "tearing" open after her stitches were removed too early, the development of an infection which left her with a "green ooze" coming from her wound and sores all over her body.