Posted on 05/21/2005 7:15:04 AM PDT by nuconvert
Surgeon Goes From 'Brilliant' to Banned
By WILLIAM McCALL/Associated Press Writer
Fri May 20, 2005
As a young surgeon in upstate New York, Jayant Patel was a rising star, called "brilliant" by the doctors who trained him.
But documents obtained by The Associated Press show a darker side — a long record of botched operations, lawsuits and allegations of negligence and incompetence that have trailed him from New York to Oregon to Australia, where the media have given him the sobriquet "Dr. Death."
As details have emerged, the Indian-born doctor has taken on a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde image, raising questions about how he could keep practicing for so long.
Patel, 55, now faces an inquiry into the deaths or serious injuries of 14 patients he treated during a brief tenure as chief surgeon in the Australian outback. He has been banned from practice in Oregon and surrendered his New York license.
When he was training in the 1980s, Patel was praised by senior doctors even after he was disciplined for failing to examine patients before operating on them.
The New York Commissioner of Health at the time, Dr. David Axelrod, spared no words when he summed up the case, calling it a "serious failure" that "clearly evidenced his moral unfitness to practice medicine."
But Patel's main defender, Dr. J. Raymond Hinshaw, a University of Rochester chief surgeon, rated his skills among the top three of the 200 residents Hinshaw had worked with, according to newly released documents obtained by the AP from the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners.
After completing his residency and a three-year disciplinary probation, Patel was hired by Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Portland in 1989 on the basis of glowing recommendations from Hinshaw and other physicians who had trained him.
Dr. James Williams, who was doing surgical research on the spleen with Hinshaw, wrote that Patel's "ultimate contribution to the medical profession will be exceptional."
In a letter to the Oregon board, Hinshaw, who has since died, noted that when he operated on another physician, "the doctor requested specifically that (Patel) be my assistant. That, in my experience, is unique."
Oregon officials say they knew Patel had been disciplined in New York, but he had successfully completed his probation and earned certification from The American Board of Surgery.
He had the support of respected physicians who wrote that his "judgment was excellent," adding words such as "superlative, brilliant," said Kathleen Haley, executive director of the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners.
But by 1998, the Portland hospital had severely restricted his practice after reviewing 79 complaints. Patel was required to get a second opinion for "all complicated surgical cases."
The Oregon board started its own investigation into Patel — looking at four of the 79 complaints. In three of those cases, the patients had died. In one, according to documents, Patel performed a colostomy backward, blocking the patient's gastrointestinal system.
In 2000, the board cited Patel for "gross or repeated acts of negligence" and extended the restrictions on his practice statewide.
He left Kaiser in 2001 and resurfaced in 2003 at Bundaberg Base Hospital in the state of Queensland, Australia — where officials said he lied about his disciplinary history.
Co-workers at Bundaberg soon noticed disturbing signs.
Toni Hoffman, a nurse who worked with Patel, told the AP he regularly failed to wash his hands between patients, was belligerent toward nursing staff and often resisted transferring patients.
In a letter to the Queensland Parliament, she wrote: "Every time I see him walk into the unit ... I feel sick because I just think `who's he going to kill now, what's he going to do now?'"
Australian authorities say Patel left the country, and some reports have suggested he has returned to India. But his mother said she has not heard from him in some time.
"I understand that he is a very famous doctor in America and Australia, but about the charges against him that you are telling me now, I am in the dark," Mridulaben Patel, 89, said from the family's palatial home in the province of Gujarat.
Stephen Houze, the attorney for Patel in Portland, declined comment while the investigation in Australia is proceeding.
Patel's Oregon license was deactivated last month after the board discovered that he had failed to notify it he planned to practice in Australia, as required.
Haley, the Oregon board director, faulted Australian health officials for failing to check with Oregon before allowing Patel to practice in Queensland — a failure that has already resulted in a public apology by Australia's chief health officer, Gerry FitzGerald.
"It's really like saying the Department of Motor Vehicles of Oregon put a restriction on somebody's driver's license," Haley said. "They go to Australia, they get behind the wheel, and they kill somebody. Is it Oregon's problem? Or is it Australia's problem?"
I can see it now........
Hillary goes from "brilliant" (smartest woman in America) to neglected and shunned.
LOL.
As an RN, I see Doc's like this frequently. They are a scary bunch. Fortunately, I have also worked with many interns and residents that are truly wonderful and "gifted". Hopefully, they will maintain their high quality of care.
Why are they allowed to continue to practice?
"Failed to examine patients before operating on them..." Yikes! Read no further--this guy is a menace.
That is one way to say it.
Covering up their mistakes isnt all that hard.
They have learned what they can and cant get away with.
And it is true that many in the medical community cover for their own.
Doesn't Patel mean inn-keeper? Again off-topic. :)
Is there any way us regular folks can get an idea who the good doctors/surgeons are without being on the inside like you? Any "code words" or other things to look out for?
Looks like Patel made a stop in NY, at some point.
Dr Patel was practising surgery in New York, before an April 2001 order from the New York Board for Professional Medical Conduct forced him to surrender his physician's licence.[snip]Among the cases that led to the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners' findings in November 2000 were:
• A man, 65, who died in November 1994 two days after Dr Patel performed pancreatic surgery. He had seven litres of blood in his abdomen.
• A woman, 83, who died in November 1996 of post-operative complications, seven days after Dr Patel performed pancreatic and colon surgery. She was found with a litre of blood in her abdomen.
• A man, 67, who died in September 1997 the day after Dr Patel performed liver surgery. He had almost two litres of blood in his abdomen.
• A man, 59, who permanently lost gastrointestinal function in August 1997 after Dr Patel performed a colostomy "backwards".
You are right.
There should be better communication between states.
Ask the doc what his medical school class rank was. They get a number. Like my niece, she graduatd from medical school at #9, while her husband, a surgeon now, was #3 in his class.
If you have the time, look at his parchment hanging on the wall, note the schools and the dates and check 'em out on the AMA website. Top of the class or barely squeaked by, they call 'em all "Doctor".
And they get the press
to blame lawyers when people
sue their bad doctors!
That darned patient thingy just keeps getting in the way of real medicine....
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