Dr Death wins right to admit patients' records in US court

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Sydney, Apr 24 : Dr Jayant Patel, a doctor of Indian origin who acquired the sobriquet "Dr Death" for botching several surgeries resulting in his patients deaths, has scored a significant victory over Australian authorities, who are trying for early extradition from America, when a US judge ordered the prosecutors to produce all the relevant records related to the botched surgeries, before it.

The US court reportedly admitted Dr Patel's appeal for a "full-blown trial" on May 27, which is the next date of hearing in the case.

US District Court judge Dennis Hubel agreed with Dr Patel that the Australian Government should hand over medical records of the five patients he is accused of harming while head of surgery at Queensland's Bundaberg Base Hospital, reported The Australian. "I'm going to order the documents be produced by May 2," the paper quoted Judge Hubel as saying.

In Australia Dr Patel has been charged with 16 offences, including manslaughter, grievous bodily harm and fraud charges, and the authorities here hope that he will be extradite to Australia at the earliest.

Dr Patel has been held in a Portland jail since his arrest on March 11. He was a surgeon at the Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005.

American prosecutor Ethan Knight, working on behalf of the Australian Government, estimated the records would amount to about 500 pages of documents and argued that Dr Patel was attempting to turn his extradition proceedings into "a full-blown trial".

Admitting that the authorities might face difficulties in collecting the 500-page document, the judge asked Dr Patel's lawyer Marc Blackman to define specifically what records Dr Patel was seeking in an attempt to decrease the number of pages.

ANI

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