Dr Death looks to Mahatma Gandhi for inspiration

Melbourne, Mar 18: Dr. Jayant Patel, the surgeon facing extradition from the US to Queensland on manslaughter charges, is looking to Mahatma Gandhi for inspiration to cope with life inside a high-security detention centre in Portland, Oregon.

Patel, 57, has been locked up in the jail for the past week, and will launch a bid for bail tomorrow in the District Court in Portland, Oregon. According to news.com.au, Dr Patel will ask Judge Dennis Hubel for bail so he can fight his extradition to Australia from the Portland home he shares with his wife, Kishoree, rather than from a cramped cell in the high rise prison located in the city's downtown area.

The bail hearing is scheduled to begin at 7.30 a.m. (AEDT). Dr Patel was arrested last Tuesday at his Portland home by FBI officers.

Australian authorities are seeking Patel's extradition for 16 offences, including three counts of manslaughter, grievous bodily harm and fraud related to his time in Queensland's Bundaberg Base Hospital.

Dr Patel's friend, Texas-based surgeon Dr Vijay Mehta, said he recommended to Dr Patel before his arrest that he seek inspiration from Gandhi, who was jailed numerous times in India and South Africa as he campaigned for human rights.

Dr Mehta said Dr Patel welcomed the advice.

Dr Patel will argue he has lived in Portland for 28 years and did not flee when Australian authorities first began investigating the deaths of patients at Bundaberg hospital during his employment as head of surgery between 2003 and 2005.

"They are still in good spirits, they're looking for ways to come up with the money," Dr Mehta said.

"He could have fled to a country that does not have an extradition treaty with Australia, but he didn't. He said he would stay here and face whatever comes. You have to respect the guy for that."

ANI