An Indian-born, American surgeon charged with manslaughter in connection with the deaths of three patients in Australia was ordered Monday to appear in court in February to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a jury trial.
Dr. Jayant Patel, 58, has been free on bail in the Queensland state capital of Brisbane since he was extradited from his home in Portland, Oregon, in July.
He faces 13 charges, including manslaughter, causing grievous bodily harm and fraud relating to his employment as director of surgery at Queensland’s Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005.
During a brief appearance in the Brisbane Magistrates Court Monday, prosecutor David Meredith successfully applied for a committal hearing to be scheduled from Feb. 9 to 27 to establish whether the case will go before a jury.
The magistrate also set aside an additional two weeks in April to accommodate any overseas or interstate witnesses that cannot attend the initial hearing.
Meredith told the court that more than 120 witnesses may be called to testify.
Patel has yet to enter pleas to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Patel, dubbed "Dr. Death" by Australia’s media, was hired at a state-run hospital in Bundaberg, a sugar industry town of 47,000 about 190 miles north of Brisbane, but allegedly failed to disclose that he had been disciplined for negligence by medical boards in the U.S. states of Oregon and New York, according to Australian authorities. A state government inquiry concluded that Patel may have contributed directly to 13 deaths because of an "unacceptable level of care" at the hospital, but he has not been formally charged in all those cases.
He was returned to Australia after being arrested by FBI agents in Portland in March.