In Australia, an inquiry is slowly proceeding into the actions of Dr. Jayant Patel who has been accused of causing some 80 deaths amongst his patients. He arrived in Australia after he had gotten into trouble in both New York and Oregon. There he:
[performed] unnecessary operations, removed healthy organs and “revealed a lack of up-to-date knowledge in many aspects of medical practice.” Eight of his patients died after he performed complex operations that he had been ordered not to perform in Oregon …
An anesthesiologist referred to Dr. Patel as “Dr. Death,” and another doctor told nurses not to allow Dr. Patel to operate on his patients. One surgeon who had examined about 150 of Dr. Patel’s former patients told the commission that all surgeons have problems with patients, but he said of Dr. Patel’s problems: “They’re not 10 times what you might expect. They’re more like 100 times what you might expect,” [NYT]
How did he get hired in the first place? He lied about his history, had good recommendations, and nobody bothered to check his story:
A simple inquiry would have discovered Dr. Patel’s disciplinary problems, the report says. They were found, and made public, by a reporter at The Courier-Mail of Brisbane on the basis of a Google search. [NYT]
[Can you imagine? An organization not checking the credentials of its employees?]
Dr. Patel has since returned to Oregon, and it’s unclear whether and how he will be held to account in Australia. The inquiry is also having its own problems, and is currently switching chairmen before continuing with the investigation.
One small blessing - he’s not this Dr. Death.
See previous post: Dr. Death probably not a good doctor
