Qld: Closed Patel hearings 'unncessary': Opposition

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2007
Qld: Closed Patel hearings 'unncessary': Opposition

BRISBANE, Feb 15 AAP - There is no need to close to the public current medical board
hearings against disgraced surgeon Jayant Patel, because most of the evidence is already
in the public domain, says the Queensland opposition.

The Queensland Medical Board is seeking to deregister Dr Patel over the clinical treatment
of eight patients at Bundaberg Base Hospital, in the state's south-east, and allegations
he misled the board about his registration.

The case resumed in the Health Practitioners Tribunal on Tuesday.

Lawyers for Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine have asked that legal proceedings
be closed to the public, arguing it could prejudice any criminal trial against him.

Mr Shine later said his lawyers had acted at the request of Director of Public Prosecutions
Leanne Clare.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark McArdle today accused the government of trying
to "conceal" the Patel matter, despite mountains of evidence having been heard during
the Morris and Davies royal commission into the matter.

"The matters being canvassed here appear to be nothing more than what has already appeared
in the public inquiries," Mr McArdle said.

"(Mr) Shine needs to explain the basis of his application and state very clearly whether
evidence is being placed before the tribunal that did not exist at the time of the inquiries
or has not been disclosed elsewhere."

Mr McArdle said that if Mr Shine was going to close the court to the public, then the
determination by the tribunal also needed to be suppressed.

Dr Patel faces a maximum penalty of $100,000, permanent deregistration in Queensland
and notification of the penalty to medical registration boards worldwide if the medical
board's action against him is successful.

The surgeon fled to the US in 2005 after allegations of medical incompetence surfaced
following his two years as director of surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital.

He has been linked to the deaths of 17 patients.

Warrants were issued for his arrest last November on a number of charges, including
three of manslaughter and five of causing grievous bodily harm.

The federal government is working to extradite him from the US.

AAP rm/imc/cdh

KEYWORD: PATEL

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