AFTER allegedly killing three of his patients, surgeon Jayant Patel told a nurse the central Queensland community of Bundaberg was lucky to have him because he had made the hospital “a lot of money”, a court has heard.
The fact Dr Patel had said that, prosecutor Ross Martin told the Queensland Supreme Court yesterday, showed Dr Patel’s ego and a remarkable lack of insight.
“In reality, people die in hospitals all the time, but to focus on money after these disastrous outcomes is a misplaced priority,” Mr Martin said.
The surgeon, 60, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of manslaughter and not guilty to one count of grievous bodily harm, relating to his time as the director of surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital from 2003 to 2005.
As the trial entered its 13th week yesterday, Mr Martin closed the prosecution case and began his final address to the jury. He said Dr Patel had asked nurse Damien Bondarenko in 2005: “Don’t you think the community’s lucky to have someone like me? “I’ve brought a lot of money to this hospital. I’ve increased its activity.”
Mr Martin said Dr Patel’s comment was illustrative of what went wrong, and showed the surgeon’s ego and lack of insight. Dr Patel was a “rotten” surgeon, who made bad choices before and after performing surgery, the prosecutor said. When Dr Patel arrived at Bundaberg in April 2003, he had not performed surgery for at least two years.
Mr Martin said the surgeon had been disciplined by the board of medical examiners in the US state of Oregon in 2000, and was restricted from performing certain complex surgeries without first seeking a second opinion.
But in Bundaberg, Dr Patel had launched into performing “dangerous and dramatic” surgical operations, such as oesophagectomies. Mr Martin said Dr Patel “too easily persuaded” the hospital administrator, Darren Keating, to allow him to perform the surgeries.
Dr Patel “was an over-ambitious surgeon with no insight into his limitations (and) was willing to ignore the warning given in Oregon”, Mr Martin told the jury. Dr Patel performed an oesophagectomy, which involves the removal of part of a patient’s oesophagus, on 46-year-old James Phillips, on May 19, 2003. Mr Phillips was not a “promising candidate” for any surgery, let alone major surgery, Mr Martin said. Mr Phillips died shortly after the surgery.
Dr Patel removed part of 75-year-old Mervyn Morris’s bowel on May 23, 2003, to treat rectal bleeding. Mr Martin said there was “no emergency to require something as drastic as removing (part) of his bowel”.Mr Morris died on June 14. Earlier yesterday, Dr Patel was asked whether he wanted to give or call evidence.
“I do not, your honour,” he said.The trial continues today.
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