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November 22, 2006 Australia seeks arrest of Patel Authorities will seek to extradite the ex-Portland surgeon linked to the deaths of 13 patients By DON COLBURN and SUSAN GOLDSMITH A court issued warrants today in Australia for the arrest of former Portland surgeon Dr. Jayant M. Patelon on three charges of manslaughter and five charges of causing grievous bodily harm to patients at a rural Queensland hospital. A government inquiry found that Patel may have contributed directly to 13 deaths because of an "unacceptable level of care" at Queensland state's Bundaberg Base Hospital while the surgeon was director of surgery there in 2003-2005. Chief public prosecutor Leanne Clare confirmed that warrants were issued today in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for Jayant Patel, -- the first step toward extraditing Patel from Oregon to Australia to be tried on the charges. The decision to seek charges marks a new phase in a 20-month inquiry triggered by an intensive care nurse who took complaints about Patel's work to a member of the Australian Parliament in 2004. The nurse, Toni Hoffman, testified at length before a state commission charged with investigating Patel and the Queensland health system. The commission's hearings generated global headlines -- Australian tabloids called Patel "Doctor Death" -- and a 538-page report concluding that Patel's negligence led to the deaths of 13 patients. The charges against Patel are expected to follow the recommendations the commission issued almost exactly a year ago. No one answered the door at Patel's home Tuesday. Portland defense attorney Stephen Houze said he no longer represents Patel and had no comment. In the past, Houze has said there is little chance Patel could get a fair trial in Australia given the negative publicity he received there. It's unclear how quickly Patel, who lives in Washington County, could be extradited to face charges. Australian police must issue an arrest warrant and alert Interpol, the international police agency. Diplomats then would send an extradition request to the U.S. State Department. The FBI would be charged with arresting Patel, who would then face a detention hearing before a magistrate and extradition proceeding, the outcome of which can be challenged by the defendant. If Patel is unsuccessful in U.S. District Court, he could challenge the order to an appellate court. Extradition hearings are open to the public, and the process can take more than a year, said Douglas McNabb, an extradition lawyer in Washington, D.C. Oregon license suspended In June, Patel signed an order from the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners that suspended his Oregon license indefinitely and bars him from applying for a medical license in any state. That ended Oregon proceedings against Patel at least until completion of the Australian inquiry. Under the agreement between Patel and the Oregon medical board, Patel's license will remain suspended until he proves "that the criminal and administrative process against him in Australia is complete," with all penalties and conditions satisfied. Board members said that effectively ended Patel's career. Patel, who got his medical degree in his native India, was a general surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Portland from 1989 until 2001. After an internal investigation of problematic surgical cases, Kaiser restricted Patel from doing complex operations in 1998, and the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners disciplined him for negligence in 2000. After quitting Kaiser, Patel became chief of surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital, the largest hospital in Queensland. But complaints about his hiring, surgical technique and rude behavior erupted into a heavily publicized scandal, prompting the state commission's inquiry. Queensland health officials acknowledged that they failed to check Patel's credentials thoroughly and relied on letters of recommendation, including six from Patel's former colleagues at Kaiser. The Australian commission found that Patel "knowingly misled" Queensland officials by falsifying his work history and failing to disclose that he had been disciplined in Oregon. He repeatedly performed surgical operations at Bundaberg Base Hospital that he had been forbidden to do in Oregon, the commission found. The Oregon medical board proposed last year to discipline Patel further for failing to notify Oregon regulators of his move to Australia in 2003 and other alleged violations. Patel's signature on the June suspension of his license made that proposal moot. Turbulent time in Portland Patel's troubled career was the focus of a two-part series in The Oregonian in 2005. The series showed that Patel had continued to practice at Kaiser despite a pattern of bad outcomes and lawsuits charging malpractice or wrongful death. It also showed how Kaiser and Oregon Health & Science University avoided reporting malpractice claims for more than a decade, despite state laws intended to require such notification. Brash and hardworking, Patel was considered a star surgeon for many of his years in Portland. His colleagues chose him as a Kaiser Distinguished Physician in 1995. Although he trained as a general surgeon, Patel gravitated toward complex surgeries. He ran Kaiser's surgical residency program for several years, training young doctors. But Patel was also sued for malpractice or wrongful death eight times during his time at Kaiser. From 1994 to 1998, Kaiser settled five of those suits, paying out $1.8 million in two of them. Kaiser reported none of the lawsuits to the medical board. Dr. Sally Ehlers, a general surgeon in Centralia, Wash., and a former medical resident who worked under Patel in Portland in the 1990s, said she was not surprised to hear he would face criminal charges. "I didn't think he'd be immune from the legal consequences of what he did -- lying and then doing surgeries he'd been banned from doing," said Ehlers. "It's very, very extreme and serious medical negligence." No solace to ex-patient For Susan Tomberlin, who settled a medical negligence lawsuit with Kaiser in 1997 after an outpatient hernia repair by Patel left her unable to walk for six months, the news offered little comfort. "He's done a lot of bad things to people with these botched operations, and it's about time he was stopped," said Tomberlin who now lives in Mississippi. "Nobody should be able to do these kinds of things to people and get away with it." Tabitha Starkenburg, who won a $1.4 million settlement from Kaiser in 1997 for Patel's alleged negligence with her daughter's medical care, said Patel escaped justice here. "I am disappointed that here in the states he was never charged with anything," said Starkenburg, whose daughter Ronela Tepei died of colon cancer in 1995 after Patel allegedly failed to order the proper diagnostic test. "I wish he would go through the same pain we've been through, but that is not possible," she said. "I hope he finally understands how much pain he caused to so many people." | |