'Dr. Death' scooped blood out of patient, Brisbane court told

Brisbane, Feb.23 (ANI): Controversial Indian-born surgeon Dr. Jayant Patel a.k.a. "Dr. Death" reopened a patient's abdomen and scooped out over two litres of blood, a magistrate's court here was told on Monday.

According to The Australian, Gerry Kemps had lost so much blood after an oesophagectomy in December 2004 that Dr. Patel had to scoop it from his abdomen with a kidney dish, former Bundaberg Base Hospital scrub nurse Katrina Zwolak told the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Zwolak said over 2.3 litres of blood was eventually removed in this manner, and through the use of sponges and a suction line.

Kemps was reopened for the treatment of the internal bleeding about five hours after the oesophagectomy.

The court was told Dr Patel failed to stop the internal bleeding during the initial operation, then left Kemps while he conducted non-emergency surgery on another patient.

It's alleged Dr Patel again failed to stop the bleeding during the second operation, and Kemps died the next day.

Patel has been charged with Kemps's manslaughter.

Zwolak told the court Dr Patel had been "frantic" when he couldn't find the source of the bleeding, and that he kept saying: "This is not from my surgery."

However, during earlier evidence in the committal hearing, vascular surgeon Dr Brian Thiele told the court he believed the bleed was caused by damage during surgery, as spontaneous aortic ruptures were "extremely rare".

He also said a competent surgeon should have been able to locate the source of the bleeding.

Dr. Patel is facing 13 charges, including three of manslaughter. (ANI)