Doctor Death: Australia convicts reckless former U.S. surgeon of manslaughter

An Australian jury convicted a surgeon, dubbed "Doctor Death," of killing three of his patients and grievously harming another, according to Associated Press. The conviction came 25 years after the work of Jayant Patel, 60, first sparked questions about his competency.

Patel faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. He pleaded innocent to three counts of manslaughter and one count of causing grievous bodily harm to four patients he treated while he was director of surgery at a public hospital in Queensland.

That it took so long to stop him in his tracks although he had been permanently barred from performing certain surgeries in the U.S. due to gross or repeated acts of negligence points to an enduring problem. It is far too easy for incompetent doctors to flit from place to place, continuing to harm patients, because hospital administrators fail to rigorously check credentials and work performance.

The prosecutor characterized Patel as a "bad surgeon motivated by ego" who tried to restore his reputation by doing surgeries he didn't know how to perform, AP reported.

Patel rushed a patient into surgery on his esophagus, then did not notice profuse internal bleeding. He stitched the patient closed and the 77-year-old died of blood loss. Another died after the surgeon failed to identify the cause of rectal bleeding.

In another case, Patel found a benign cyst during a colonoscopy. Instead of ordering a biopsy, which would have been standard procedure, he removed the bowel. The specimen later showed no sign of cancer.

Patel graduated from medical school in Jamnangar, India, in 1976 and did a residency in New York state. His work history is studded with instances of negligence and incompetence that apparently did not follow him as he sought new positions. Patel's competence was questioned as early as the 1980s. In 1984, New York health officials placed him on probation for three years for failing to examine patients before surgery and neglecting patients who needed immediate professional care.

The New York state commissioner of health said that Patel had demonstrated "moral unfitness to practice medicine," according to The Australian.

Patel moved on to Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon in 1988 and was banned from liver and pancreatic surgeries in 1998 after a clinical audit of 79 of his surgeries revealed a pattern of poor judgment. Wounds fell apart after surgery and patients bled to death after scalpel nicks to their arteries and organs.

In 2003, Patel began work at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland. He left Australia in 2005, when questions about his work began to surface again.

To learn more:
- read this CNN account
- check out this in-depth investigation by The Australian
- read the AP wire report