Jury deliberates for fifth day on Patel manslaughter trial

SYDNEY - The jury involved in the manslaughter trial of controversial Indian origin surgeon Dr. Jayant Patel will start their fifth day of deliberations today.

The Brisbane Supreme Court jury of six men and six women has been unable to reach verdicts after 28hours of considering the evidence.

Dr Patel, 60, has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of patients Mervyn Morris, 75, Gerry Kemps, 77, and James Phillips, 46, who died after surgery performed by him.

He has also pleaded not guilty to grievous bodily harm to a fourth man, Ian Vowles, now 62, whose bowel he surgically removed, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The charges stem from his role as chief of surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005.

During the trial, the prosecution claimed Dr Patel was “a rotten surgeon” who performed useless, unnecessary and dangerous surgeries on all four men because of his ‘toxic ego’.

Evidence was given that Dr Patel had not performed any major operations for more than two years before his employment in Bundaberg, and that he had been disciplined in the US for medical negligence, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Crown prosecutor Ross Martin, SC, told the jury Dr Patel hid his past from his Australian colleagues and performed complex operations while ignoring warnings from hospital staff about patient care.

But Dr Patel’s defence lawyers claim he had the best interests of his patients “foremost to his mind” and made decisions based on information available to him at the time. (ANI)