Australia’s ‘Dr. Death’ Out on Bail

Australia's 'Dr. Death' Jayant Patel

Dr. Jayant Patel’s medical competence has been a subject of legal debate both in the U.S. and Australia for the last 25 years. Convicted in 2010 on three counts of manslaughter in three patient deaths, Mervyn Morris, James Edward Phillips and Gerry Kemps, and one count of grievous bodily harm for his treatment of Ian Rodney Vowles, Patel was sentenced to seven years in prison, which seemed lenient considering that investigators suspected him in 13 patient deaths in Australia’s Bundaberg Base Hospital.

In 2012, however, a judge ruled that Payant did not get a fair trial, that testimony had been too emotional and had prejudiced the jury against Patel. On March 13, 2013, a jury found Patel not-guilty of one of the manslaughter charges. At the time his defense hoped that prosecutors would drop the rest of the charges against Patel, but it seems that they still plan to try the other charges separately. Patel was freed on bail. No trial date will be set for the grievous bodily harm case against Patel until at least April 19, 2013.

Australias Dubious Dr. Jayant Patel

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