Indian-origin person cleared of manslaughter in Australia
14 March 2013 8:18 AM IST
An Indian-born surgeon at the centre of a long-running malpractice saga in Australia was on Wednesday cleared in a retrial of the manslaughter of an elderly patient who died after he operated on him. Jayant Patel was jailed for seven years in July 2010 after a jury found him guilty of criminal negligence resulting in the deaths of three patients.
But Australia’s high court quashed the manslaughter convictions in August last year, saying there had been a miscarriage of justice and ordered retrials, and the surgeon was released on bail.
Patel reportedly wiped away tears as he was found not guilty in Brisbane’s Supreme Court Wednesday at the first of the retrials, relating to the death of 75-year-old Mervyn Morris. Prosecutors had alleged Patel, 62, was negligent in recommending and performing bowel surgery on Morris, who died three weeks after he was operated on at Queensland’s Bundaberg Base Hospital in 2003.
But Australia’s high court quashed the manslaughter convictions in August last year, saying there had been a miscarriage of justice and ordered retrials, and the surgeon was released on bail.
Patel reportedly wiped away tears as he was found not guilty in Brisbane’s Supreme Court Wednesday at the first of the retrials, relating to the death of 75-year-old Mervyn Morris. Prosecutors had alleged Patel, 62, was negligent in recommending and performing bowel surgery on Morris, who died three weeks after he was operated on at Queensland’s Bundaberg Base Hospital in 2003.
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