NRI doctor fears unfair trial in Australia

Patel (58) faces numerous criminal charges, including three counts of manslaughter for allegedly botching surgeries that resulted in the death of patients in rural Queensland hospital, Bundaberg Base Hospital, where he served as chief of surgery for two years until he was removed in 2004.

Michael Byrne, a Brisbane attorney representing Patel, told the Oregonian newspaper that the trial is unlikely to start before next summer and once his client arrives in Australia, Byrne said he would immediately apply for bail to free him until the government puts on a preliminary case in three to four months.

Byrne said it was rare to prosecute a doctor for practice of medicine. "I think it's an emotional topic the case received unprecedented publicity in Queensland because there's a perception our health system is under funded and under-resourced.”

One of Patel's supporters, Dr Vijay Mehta, says the surgeon can never get a fair trial in Queensland. "I hope that my fear for him getting lynched in Australia somehow or other does not happen - so I am just praying for him."

Texas-based Dr Mehta said Patel was a scapegoat for administrative failings and that he had contacted Amnesty International in the US to ask them to act as observers at the Patel trial to ensure it is conducted properly. "I am all in favour of not allowing physicians to harm the patients. But the proper process needs to be driven by peers. And dangerous physicians need to be identified by peer process and not by some political discussion in the state assembly.

"Making him Dr Death and putting him in a solitary confinement or maximum security prison was definitely not warranted. If he wanted to run away he had plenty of time and notice. But Dr Patel stayed at his official address for the entire duration of this global campaign to make him a monster.”

Duncan Chappell, a law professor at Sydney University Law School, said the case stands out because medicine is generally regulated by professionals, not prosecutors. Given the heavy publicity in Queensland, he said, it will be difficult to find jurors who are not aware of the case.