1 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: My name is Hedley Thomas. 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 2: Sick to Death is based on my book of the 3 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,559 Speaker 2: same name, and it's the true story of doctor Jan 4 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 2: Patel's lies and manipulation and the herculean effort it took 5 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 2: to finally stop him. We've used voice actors throughout this series, 6 00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 2: and on occasion the real people from the story have 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 2: read their words for us. 8 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,640 Speaker 1: It is brought to you by Me and the Australian. 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 2: Chapter seventy two and ill Wind twenty five and twenty 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 2: six October two thousand and five. Covering the once in 11 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 2: a lifetime scandal of Jan Patel and the wider story 12 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 2: of how political interference and bureaucratic incompetence conspired against a 13 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 2: health system was demanding but never boring. We were witnessing 14 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 2: a near revolution in healthcare, with two commissions of inquiry, 15 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 2: the first one spectacularly shut down, and a massive boost 16 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 2: in funding for the hospitals and their staff. There would 17 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 2: be a new and improved Complaints Commission, unprecedented transparency, and 18 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 2: a commitment to proper audits of deaths and injuries to 19 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 2: prevent another Jayant Patel. The outcomes were remarkable, but a 20 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 2: fluke at so many different stages before the Patel story broke, 21 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 2: Coincidental events and chances became the links in a chain 22 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 2: that was not apparent as it formed. If just one 23 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 2: of those links had failed, there would have been no result. 24 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 2: The links were independent of each other, yet essential to 25 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: the final result. 26 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: What if Tony. 27 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 2: Hoffman had given up or not heard about elease Neville, 28 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 2: the little girl who fell out of her bunk bed. 29 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 2: What if Tony Hoffman's local member of Parliament, Rob Messenger, 30 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 2: had put her concerns in the two hard basket. Or 31 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 2: if There's Bramich had not died in Bunderberg Hospital. What 32 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 2: if I had never held suspicions about both the competence 33 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 2: of the Medical Board and overseas trained doctors. Or if 34 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 2: Nurse Karen Jenna had not made a casual remark at 35 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 2: Hoffman's house about Patel not becoming a bad surgeon overnight 36 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 2: that he must have left the trail of human wreckage elsewhere. 37 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:44,960 Speaker 2: There was no doubt that the courier Maal's revelations back 38 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 2: on thirteen April two thousand and five were the catalysts 39 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 2: for public outrage about Patel and the trigger for the inquiries. 40 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,239 Speaker 2: If Queensland Health had not chosen to cover up its 41 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 2: knowledge of Patel's bands in the United Slates States, the 42 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,920 Speaker 2: Beaty government would not have been on the back foot. 43 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,119 Speaker 2: If the heads of Queensland Health had simply confessed everything 44 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 2: immediately beating me to a ridiculously straightforward Internet check, they 45 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 2: might have escaped much of the public anger and the 46 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 2: investigative blow torch. After years of official secrecy, the cover 47 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 2: up had hopelessly failed, and now everything was exposed once again. 48 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:34,720 Speaker 2: A rough adage of my profession, namely that this screw 49 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 2: up is always in the cover up, had been confirmed. 50 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: It was irony. 51 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 2: The doctors, nurses and readers of the newspaper who had 52 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 2: stayed in contact with me believed the lives of many 53 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,559 Speaker 2: patients would be saved or improved by the promised reforms. 54 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 2: On twenty five October two thousand and five, I returned 55 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 2: to my desk at the Korean Male's offices in Campbell Street, 56 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 2: Bowen Hills, with its view of the Royal Brisbane Hospital. 57 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: But I was feeling down. The assignment that I. 58 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 2: Had taken on with my hard working and good humored 59 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 2: colleague Amanda Watt, was almost over. She decided this was 60 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 2: a cause for celebration. Amanda had been calm, professional and 61 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 2: supportive right to the end. As I responded to emails, 62 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 2: I tried to come to terms with the end of 63 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 2: the inquiries and the start of a new challenge, whatever 64 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 2: that might be, No matter how many rocks I might 65 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 2: turn over in future, I thought at that time nothing 66 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 2: would match the power, scope and impact of the Betel scandal. 67 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 2: For Premier Peter Beatty, it was a momentous day. He 68 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,239 Speaker 2: heralded one of the major spin offs, which he hoped 69 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 2: would prevent his government from being thrown out. My colleague 70 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 2: Malcolm Cole wrote a. 71 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 3: Rate on future budget surpluses and public service pay rises 72 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 3: will fund the six point thirty six billion dollar Beaty 73 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 3: government plan to fix Queensland's ailing health system and revive 74 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 3: its own political fortunes. Months of political turmoil that began 75 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 3: with the Bunderberg hospital scandal earlier this year culminated with 76 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 3: the delivery of Queensland's first state mini budget. Premier Peter 77 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 3: Beatty said while the massive funding and reform package had 78 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 3: been forced by the extraordinary failures in Bunderberg, the changes 79 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:32,600 Speaker 3: would flow through to every facet. 80 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 4: Of the state's health system. 81 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 3: Queenslanders will pay for the changes through higher taxes and 82 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 3: lower budget surpluses over the next four years. 83 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 4: Well, mate, you've cost this state six point four billion. 84 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 2: How do you feel, my colleague Craig Johnston joked on 85 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 2: returning from the mini budget announcement. Another colleague, test Livingstone added. 86 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 5: When all our power bills go up, Heady, we can 87 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 5: send you the bill. 88 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 2: My mother, Diana, was in the Gold Coast hospital and 89 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 2: watching the TV news about the health crisis. 90 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: Her condition was poor. 91 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 2: The specialists were divided on how she would fare with 92 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 2: the tumor in her adrenal gland. 93 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: We feared the. 94 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 2: Tumor was malignant and possibly inoperable. She was losing weight 95 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 2: and had little energy. Her high cheek bones were now 96 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 2: prominent because of. 97 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: The weight loss. 98 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 2: She had lost her hair and replaced it with an 99 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 2: expensive wig. My mother was a beautiful woman and had 100 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 2: always striven to look her best. Her appearance worried her 101 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 2: more than the probability that she had a terminal condition. 102 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 2: My mother was a wonderful story teller. 103 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: She could tell. 104 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 2: Classics, family squabbles, workplace triumphs, meetings with the rich and famous. 105 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 2: Although the facts were usually in dispute. She was also 106 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 2: a natural stirer. Perhaps that's why she took credit for 107 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 2: her choosing journalism was the craft, not a combination of 108 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 2: stirring and storytelling. I drove back to Brisbane after each visit, 109 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 2: feeling guilty that I was not doing more to understand 110 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 2: her condition or find the best specialists to help her. 111 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: The nurses told me she watched the TV news on 112 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 2: the night of twenty five October. All the bulletins led 113 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 2: with the massive boost in funding for the health system. 114 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 2: I left my desk earlier than usual. I had been 115 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 2: asked to talk about the giant to tell story to 116 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 2: the Sunnybank Private Hospitals annual Medical Council dinner. My talk 117 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 2: at the Tattersalls Club in the city started with Aleise Neville. 118 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 2: She was more than a link in the chain. The 119 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 2: death of this little girl, the campaign by her parents, 120 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 2: Jered and Lorraine, and the hideous failure of the health 121 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 2: and regulatory system to repair itself even while prosecuting an 122 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:03,080 Speaker 2: inexperienced and exhausted doctor who had erred in treating a 123 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 2: head injury, had a profound impact on me, Tony Hoffman 124 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 2: and many others. 125 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: In the end, Elisa's death. 126 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 2: Was not pointless like the deaths of the children at 127 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:20,160 Speaker 2: Bunderberg Hospital in nineteen twenty eight. It led to positive change. 128 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: That night, I dreamt that my mother had died. 129 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 2: When I woke in the early morning, I felt uneasy 130 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 2: and decided I would spend the day at her bedside. 131 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: Where's mummy. Where's mummy? 132 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 2: My daughter Sarah yelled as she clambered across the sheets. 133 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 2: My wife Ruth was not in our bed. She had 134 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:44,439 Speaker 2: gone down to Alexander, our son when he cried. 135 00:08:44,160 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: Out during the night. It was a little. 136 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,839 Speaker 2: After six am on twenty six October two thousand and 137 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,000 Speaker 2: five when my sister Peter called. 138 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: She was distraught. 139 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 6: Head mum has just died. The staff and the war 140 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 6: just called me. 141 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:02,559 Speaker 2: They're so sorry. 142 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: They don't know what happened. 143 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:27,040 Speaker 2: Chapter seventy three The Findings, Brisbane, thirty November two thousand 144 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 2: and five. One of the lawyers for the Jeff Davies 145 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 2: led inquiry, Jared Carlie Grimmond, stood outside the Brisbane Magistrate's Court. 146 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:42,439 Speaker 4: He didn't miss anyone. 147 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: Jared said. 148 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 2: Other lawyers who had fought since made put the best 149 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 2: possible light on the poor conduct of their clients were 150 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 2: walking away. Grim Faced with a five hundred and thirty 151 00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 2: eight page maroon colored document titled Queensland Public Hospitals Commission 152 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 2: of Inquiry Report Jared Cowley Grimmond was right. Inquiry Commissioner 153 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 2: Jeff Davies, who at that time was presenting the poisoned 154 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 2: chalice of a document to Premier Peter Beatty as the 155 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 2: TV cameras filmed their forced smiles, had not played favorites. 156 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 2: He was as tough on the political leader who asked 157 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 2: him to conduct the inquiry as he was on the 158 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 2: minions whose incompetence cost lives. Apart from the tragedy at Bunderberg, 159 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:37,959 Speaker 2: the retired judge reported on crises in hospitals in Harvey Bay, Townsville, Rockhampton, 160 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:42,839 Speaker 2: Charters Towers and Brisbane. Geoff Davies did more than pinpoint 161 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 2: the guilty parties. He urged national leadership, an overhaul of 162 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 2: funding strategies and major reforms to the health bureaucracies and 163 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 2: regulatory bodies. On the Beatty government and the former coalition government. 164 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 2: Geoff Davies found that a culture of secrecy fostered by 165 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 2: successive governments had been a major cause of the Jayan 166 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:09,599 Speaker 2: PTEL scandal and unsafe care in the health system. 167 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 7: It involved a blatant exercise of secreting information from public 168 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 7: gaze for no reason other than that the disclosure of 169 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 7: the information might be embarrassing to government. 170 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 2: Davies ruled campaigns of concealment at the highest levels of 171 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 2: the government were contrary to the public interest, misleading and deadly. 172 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 2: That culture, encouraged by politicians. 173 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,559 Speaker 7: Filtered down to Queensland Health staff and through them to 174 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,559 Speaker 7: administrators in public hospitals. 175 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,720 Speaker 2: Resulting in a failure to act decisively on safety. In 176 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 2: his report, Jeff Davies wrote. 177 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 7: This culture started at the top, with successive governments misusing 178 00:11:55,080 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 7: the Freedom of Information Act to enable potentially embarrassing information 179 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 7: to be concealed from the public. All this reflects poorly 180 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 7: on the politicians involved in the stewardship of Queensland Health. Unsurprisingly, 181 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 7: Queensland Health adopted a similar approach, and because inadequate budgets 182 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 7: meant that there would be inadequate health care, there was 183 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 7: quite a lot to conceal. Again, unsurprisingly, the same approach 184 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 7: was adopted by administrators in public hospitals and this in 185 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 7: turn led to threats of retribution to those who saw 186 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 7: it as their duty to complain about inadequate health care. 187 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 2: He criticized the former coalition government, the Beata government and 188 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 2: former Labor health ministers Gordon Nuttle and Wendy Edmund. Jeff 189 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 2: Davies said that the lives and care of patients in 190 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 2: the public health system in Queensland had been compromised for 191 00:12:55,160 --> 00:13:00,439 Speaker 2: years because of chronic underfunding. He advocated national leadership on 192 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:03,480 Speaker 2: health funding to prevent the collapse of the public system, 193 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 2: which he found was unsustainable unless more patients paid for 194 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 2: their care. 195 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:13,480 Speaker 7: And it is also wrong, in my opinion to assume 196 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,319 Speaker 7: that the other states are providing an adequate and safe system. 197 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,719 Speaker 7: Even more concerning is that the lower cost in Queensland 198 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 7: in delivering health care services has come at the cost 199 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 7: of lowering the standard of healthcare to one which is 200 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 7: grossly inadequate and dangerous. 201 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 2: By relying on unqualified doctors to perform complex surgery beyond 202 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 2: their competence, and by dumping inadequately trained doctors into hospitals, 203 00:13:43,120 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 2: patients were put at risk. 204 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 7: In my view, it is an irresistible conclusion that there 205 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 7: is a history of a culture of concealment within and 206 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 7: pertaining to Queensland Health. 207 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,319 Speaker 2: When it came to the Medical Board of Queensland. Jeff 208 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 2: Davies ruled that the Board's incompetence had led. 209 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 7: To large numbers of overseas trained doctors practicing in this 210 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 7: state without meeting the standards required of Australian trained doctors. 211 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 2: This was particularly disturbing as the Board and its major 212 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,040 Speaker 2: stakeholders had been aware for several years that the registration 213 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 2: system for overseas trained doctors was in crisis. 214 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 7: Any reasonable inquiry would have revealed that doctor Patel had 215 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 7: lied in the application about his disciplinary history. If that 216 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 7: had been revealed, the dishonesty alone should have persuaded the 217 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:45,560 Speaker 7: Board that doctor Patel was not a suitable person for registration. 218 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 7: The Board effectively made no independent inquiry. 219 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 2: Jeff Davies blamed the sack Director General, Doctor Steve Buckland, 220 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 2: for fostering a culture of concealment and suppression and for 221 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 2: compromising the safety of patients by attempting to deny or 222 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 2: ignore serious clinical issues linked to dangerous doctors. He found 223 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 2: that doctor Buckland. 224 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 7: Failed to take any appropriate action to suspend doctor Patel 225 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 7: from duty or providing surgical services, or further restrict his 226 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 7: scope of practice or cause any further investigation of doctor 227 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 7: Patel's conduct until April nine, two thousand and five, after 228 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 7: doctor Patel had left the country. Each failure in the 229 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 7: circumstances was deliberate or careless and incompetent and unreasonable. 230 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 2: And he ruled that doctor Buckland was inclined to. 231 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 7: Criticize the critics and to conceal the criticism rather than 232 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 7: to deal with the problem. 233 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 2: Jeff Davies found that doctor Jerry Fitzgerald's approach to the 234 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 2: audit that he led into doctor Patel in early two 235 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 2: thousand and five, and his interpretation of its alarming findings 236 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 2: of a significantly higher complication rate were quite inexplicable, and 237 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 2: Jeff Davies added that doctor Fitzgerald had acted deliberately or 238 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 2: carelessly and incompetently. 239 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 7: Permitting doctor Patel to continue to practice and then leaving 240 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 7: it to the Medical Board of Queensland to take whatever 241 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 7: steps they thought necessary, was a course designed to minimize 242 00:16:29,640 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 7: publicity and in effect conceal the truth. The interests of 243 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 7: the patients were ignored. Doctor Fitzgerald failed to take any 244 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 7: step to restrict doctor Patel's surgical practices through suspension limitation 245 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 7: of practice or restriction of duties at the hospital, whether 246 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 7: temporarily or otherwise, when such advice was reasonably appropriate and warranted. 247 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 7: In my view, Doctor Fitzgerald had in his mind from 248 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 7: the outset that it was likely that doctor Patel would 249 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,479 Speaker 7: not remain in practice in Australia beyond thirty first of 250 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:12,240 Speaker 7: March two thousand and five. This was likely to put 251 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 7: an end to the issue. He did this against the 252 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 7: background of knowing that from the twenty second of March 253 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 7: two thousand and five the issue had become a political one. 254 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,920 Speaker 7: It being raised in Parliament by Mister Messenger. 255 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:32,200 Speaker 2: MP Jeff Davies recommended a police probe into evidence that 256 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 2: doctor Darren Keating, Bunderberg Hospital's Director of Medical Services, had 257 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 2: deliberately misled state and federal agencies in relation to Pateel's 258 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 2: status and abilities. He said that doctor Keating had persistently 259 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 2: ignored or downplayed the seriousness of complaints, and had performed. 260 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 7: His duties carelessly or incompetently. When the matters are considered together, 261 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,400 Speaker 7: they to the view that there was a strong element 262 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:08,320 Speaker 7: of orchestrated incompetence or wilful blindness in doctor Keating's response 263 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,959 Speaker 7: to complaints about his Director of Surgery. I find that 264 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 7: doctor Keating deliberately diminished or downplayed complaints about doctor Patel. 265 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,439 Speaker 7: He declined to initiate inquiries into doctor Patel where at 266 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 7: the very least serious concerns had been raised, and he 267 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:32,159 Speaker 7: promoted or acquiesced in a perception amongst staff that doctor 268 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 7: Patel was protected by management because he was valuable. 269 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:44,199 Speaker 2: For performing his duties carelessly or incompetently. Peter Leck, the 270 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 2: hospital's district manager, should face disciplinary action. Jeff Davies found 271 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,880 Speaker 2: Peter Leck permitted doctor Petell's promotion to director of Surgery 272 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 2: before anyone had checked his skills. Leck had not set 273 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 2: up a system to vet the critics of doctors at 274 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 2: the hospital, and accordingly. 275 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 7: The formal qualifications, training, experience, and clinical competence of doctor Patel, 276 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 7: amongst others was not assessed, and the opportunity was lost 277 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 7: for such a committee to discover doctor Patel's disciplinary history 278 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 7: and take appropriate action upon learning of complaints and concerns 279 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 7: about doctor Patel's competence, Mister Leck failed to ensure that 280 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 7: they were investigated properly. Like doctor Keating, mister Lex's conduct 281 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 7: in my view, evinces if not a policy of calculated concealment, 282 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:44,880 Speaker 7: an attitude that discouraged any frank discussion of clinical issues 283 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 7: within the hospital. 284 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 2: Jeff Davies singled out Tony Hoffman, the nurse manager of 285 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 2: the intensive care unit at the hospital, when paying tribute 286 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:59,159 Speaker 2: to people whose care, passion, or courage was instrumental in 287 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,159 Speaker 2: bringing to light the matters covered in his report. 288 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 7: She might easily have doubted herself or succumbed to certain 289 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 7: pressures to work within a system that was not responsive. 290 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 7: She might have chosen to quarantine herself from doctor Patel's 291 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 7: influence by leaving the hospital or at least the intensive 292 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,920 Speaker 7: care unit instead, and under the threat of significant detriment 293 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 7: to herself, Miss Hoffman persistently and carefully documented the transgressions 294 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 7: of doctor Patel. It was her courage and persistence which, 295 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 7: in the face of inaction and even resistance, brought the 296 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 7: scandalous conduct of doctor Patel to light. 297 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 2: Finally, the missing surgeon, doctor Patel was found to have 298 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:55,400 Speaker 2: been a pathological liar who performed operations beyond his competence 299 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 2: and beyond the capacity of the hospital and its staff. 300 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,360 Speaker 7: As a result of negligence on the part of doctor Patel. 301 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 7: Thirteen patients that the hospital died and many others suffered 302 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:15,199 Speaker 7: adverse outcomes. Doctor Patel unreasonably failed to transfer patients to 303 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 7: a tertiary referral hospital within an appropriate time frame, causing 304 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 7: adverse outcomes for many of those patients. On many occasions, 305 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:30,159 Speaker 7: doctor Pateel failed to adequately record in patient files the 306 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:36,360 Speaker 7: true details concerning material facts, including the surgical procedures undertaken, 307 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 7: complications arising from surgery, wound adhesients, infections, the course of 308 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:49,479 Speaker 7: postoperative care, and reasons for postoperative return to surgery. Doctor 309 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 7: Patel failed to refer thirteen reportable deaths to the coroner. 310 00:21:55,920 --> 00:22:02,159 Speaker 2: Davies recommended police consider charges of manslaughter, negligent acts causing harm, 311 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:08,840 Speaker 2: grievous bodily harm, assault, occasioning bodily harm, and fraud. He 312 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,160 Speaker 2: found that Patel had virtues. 313 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 7: He was not without skill, intelligence, and an aptitude for learning, 314 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 7: and might well have thrived in a larger hospital where 315 00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 7: he was closely supervised. Staff attested to the fact that 316 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 7: doctor Patel worked tirelessly. 317 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:51,160 Speaker 2: Chapter seventy four, Dear Doctor Patel, Portland, Oregon, July two 318 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,600 Speaker 2: thousand and six for most of the long flight to 319 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 2: the United States, my imagination ran riot in my mind 320 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,719 Speaker 2: Ryan's eye. I was driving a higher car to an 321 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 2: address I had memorized and knocking confidently on the heavy 322 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 2: front door of Jaan Patel's impressive mansion. Like the reporter 323 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,359 Speaker 2: Paul Barry from Sixty Minutes the previous year, I would 324 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:21,000 Speaker 2: stride across the manicured lawn and declare, Dr Patel, we 325 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,439 Speaker 2: know you are there, and, as a photographer steadied for 326 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 2: the gotcha shot, an unsmiling Patel would unbolt the door 327 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 2: and invite me in for an exhaustive interview. It was 328 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:38,439 Speaker 2: a long shot, but stranger things had happened since this 329 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 2: bizarre scandal first erupted. Stephanie Ballog, the Courier Mail's chief 330 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 2: of staff, and Tony Hoffman were positive. 331 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: Tony told me. 332 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 6: Just remember this. His ego is so huge that he 333 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 6: would love to talk about what happened and blame everyone else. 334 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,840 Speaker 6: I think he wants to talk and his lawyers who 335 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 6: have stopped him. 336 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:06,640 Speaker 2: The patients and the families, the doctors and nurses, the 337 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 2: politicians and the bureaucrats. They would be morbidly engrossed in. 338 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:16,200 Speaker 2: Even the most self serving explanation from Patel. So far 339 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,159 Speaker 2: his story remained untold. It was the final chapter. He 340 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,560 Speaker 2: might as well lay it out with the reporter who 341 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:28,919 Speaker 2: had made a study of his career, having decided days 342 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 2: earlier to resign from the newspaper after seven years there, 343 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:38,080 Speaker 2: I had another motive. An exclusive Patel interview would be 344 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:41,719 Speaker 2: an appropriate way to finish. He had been in legal 345 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 2: limbo since a Queensland Police brief of evidence comprising more 346 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 2: than thirty five thousand pages had gone to the Director 347 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 2: of Public Prosecutions Leanne Claire in February two thousand and six. 348 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 2: Doctor Patel's Brisbane solicitor, Damien Scatini, said the entire saga 349 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:04,119 Speaker 2: had been horrendous for his client. How do you imagine 350 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 2: he feels about it all? He takes it all very seriously. 351 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,119 Speaker 4: It's been a nightmare for him. 352 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 2: Terry O'Gorman, the civil liberties lawyer, said he's been dubbed 353 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,280 Speaker 2: doctor death for a period of twelve months or more. 354 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 4: He's been the center focus of a royal commission in 355 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,240 Speaker 4: which a whole lot of evidence not admissible in a 356 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 4: court of law has been led. It is my view 357 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,119 Speaker 4: that he cannot get a fair. 358 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 2: Trial Hoffmann and the patients, however, remained confident that he 359 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 2: would be extradited for a trial in the Supreme Court 360 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 2: in Brisbane. The detectives from the homicide squad were adamant 361 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 2: that Tony would be a key witness for the prosecution, 362 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 2: while Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson had visited Bunderberg to reassure 363 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,639 Speaker 2: grieving families that the case was a high priority. The 364 00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 2: thirteen deaths attributed to doctor Patel from evidence in the 365 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 2: inquiry run by Jeff Davies had risen to seventeen in 366 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:10,120 Speaker 2: the ensuing months. Prosecuting over so many deaths would increase 367 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 2: the workload for the police and the lawyers, so the 368 00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,000 Speaker 2: Police Commissioner agreed to whittle the number to a handful 369 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 2: of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm cases where the evidence 370 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:29,119 Speaker 2: was strongest. As Patel pondered his future waiting for a 371 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,119 Speaker 2: knock on the door from a US marshal with extradition 372 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:37,439 Speaker 2: papers or an opportunistic reporter with a digital recorder, Tony 373 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,719 Speaker 2: Hoffman suffered a breakdown. The stress had finally caught up 374 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 2: with her. Ordered to take a long break from work, 375 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 2: she watched a TV news clip on six June, Premier 376 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 2: Peter Beatty had up the injection of funds into the 377 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 2: health system to almost ten billion after Pole's tipped electoral disaster. 378 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 8: Bettie said this means more elective surgery, more responsive and 379 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 8: better resourced emergency departments, expanded public and community health activities, 380 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 8: and ultimately a healthier Queensland. 381 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 2: Jim Cronenberg, the Oregon Medical Association's effusive manager, asked me 382 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 2: for an update within moments of our meeting at Portland's 383 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 2: Hotel de Luxe. 384 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 9: Tell me what is happening? When are they going to 385 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 9: bring him to Australia. 386 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,640 Speaker 2: In a long career working with physicians, he had never 387 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 2: encountered anything as strange as the Patel scandal. 388 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,679 Speaker 9: What happened to the unfortunate folks in Australia was a 389 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,400 Speaker 9: real shock to us here. This guy would have worked 390 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 9: in every kaiser permanente clinic in Portland. He's worked with 391 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:52,400 Speaker 9: scrub nurses and anesthetists. He's as sister surgeons and supervised surgeons. 392 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,479 Speaker 2: Doesn't that make it worse? I asked that he worked 393 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 2: for a long time with many qualified people, and yet 394 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 2: it took yeas for him to be stopped. 395 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 9: Well I have a theory. I'm left to conclude that 396 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,480 Speaker 9: with all the surgeons with whom he worked, none of 397 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,200 Speaker 9: them saw enough. They saw a mistake here. 398 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,400 Speaker 2: And there, Kronenberg answered, And. 399 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 9: They often say things like, well, I wouldn't have done 400 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,000 Speaker 9: it that way. But that's the thing. There is not 401 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 9: always a precise and scientific way. Every time the human 402 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,240 Speaker 9: anatomy is different. I used to think that we were 403 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 9: all set up the same way, but no. Take a 404 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 9: woman's uterus. There are big ones, small ones, long ones, 405 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 9: wide ones. So after saying I wouldn't have done it 406 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 9: that way, a reviewing surgeon will next say, but I 407 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 9: can understand why it was done that way. 408 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 2: The Oregon Board of Medical Examiners in downtown Portland has 409 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 2: an impressive sign above its reception disc It. 410 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 10: Says mission to protect the health, safety, and well being 411 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 10: of Oregonians by regulating the practice of medicine in a 412 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,320 Speaker 10: manner that promotes quality healthcare. 413 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 2: One of the Board's investigators, Don Short, had been asked 414 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 2: to greet me and decline my requests for information about 415 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 2: their most infamous registrant. The chairman, David Groom, would that 416 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 2: day invoke an order which was signed by Patel, to 417 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 2: prevent his reinstatement as a surgeon. 418 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,719 Speaker 10: Until he proves to the satisfaction of the board that 419 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 10: the criminal and administrative process against him in Australia is 420 00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 10: complete and that all penalties or conditions imposed by that 421 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,600 Speaker 10: jurisdiction have been satisfied. 422 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 2: Don Short was tight lipped. He had been told to 423 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 2: say nothing about recent contact with either Patel or his 424 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 2: criminal lawyer, Stephen Howes, who had already flagged a long 425 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:57,800 Speaker 2: battle with Australian authorities if extradition proceedings were started. I 426 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 2: went to a home in a heavily wooded s suburb 427 00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 2: south of Portland. It belonged to John Dully. He was 428 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 2: sitting in his favorite room, filled with sports memorabilia and 429 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 2: celebrated covers of Time and Life magazine. He pointed to 430 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:16,720 Speaker 2: an X ray in a frame on the wall. 431 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 11: There's the clamp that Patel left inside me. 432 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 2: John asked me. Do you think he will be extradited 433 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 2: back to Australia. 434 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:27,280 Speaker 1: I couldn't say. 435 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 12: Can you imagine that being left inside? 436 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 2: Someone asked his wife Tracy, looking at the stainless steel 437 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 2: clamp that measured twenty centimeters from tip to handle. 438 00:30:41,000 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 12: They did such a good job hiding all this. There's 439 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 12: a gag order on his lawsuit, and they tried to 440 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,280 Speaker 12: sell it as a mistake, a terrible accident that happened 441 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 12: in a learning situation. 442 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety two, John Dully, then a twenty seven 443 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:02,680 Speaker 2: year old restaurant cook, suffered from ultra collitis. He underwent 444 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 2: a procedure to have his colon removed after being reassured 445 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 2: by the confidence and apparent ability of his surgeon Patel. 446 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,800 Speaker 2: When Dully left the Best Kiser Medical Center to go 447 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 2: home ten days after the surgery, he was doubled up 448 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 2: with pain. 449 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,640 Speaker 11: They told me in the hospital that they had nicked 450 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 11: my urethra and had to repair it. I went home 451 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 11: and I was having trouble urinating. I was urinating through 452 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 11: my rectum. I told one of the interns what was 453 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 11: going on, and then they discovered the clamp. The intern 454 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 11: told me, this is a surgeon's worst nightmare. He said 455 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 11: I should get an attorney. 456 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 2: Patel had left the sexually active man permanently impotent. He 457 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 2: required five major operations by other surgeons to repair some 458 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 2: of the damage from the first procedure by Patel. The 459 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 2: settlement of Dully's legal case in nineteen ninety four should 460 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 2: have been reported to the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners 461 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 2: by the Kaiser Group, but it withheld that information. John 462 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,360 Speaker 2: has wondered how many patients might have been better off 463 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 2: if the board had begun investigations back then. He hoped 464 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:23,840 Speaker 2: Patel would be severely disciplined after his Bunderberg scandals. 465 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:27,040 Speaker 11: What I think would really hurt him most is having 466 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,000 Speaker 11: to explain what he did to people he thinks are 467 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 11: beneath him. 468 00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:32,760 Speaker 1: He would hate that. I just know it. 469 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 2: Susan Goldsmith swung her Chevrolet Tracker onto the freeway and 470 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,720 Speaker 2: headed north, peeling off for the last five minutes of 471 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 2: the journey to Patel's house in the Bronzen Creek estate, 472 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 2: where the homes are larger and more expensive. 473 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 13: I know he's around. I don't know if he's around 474 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 13: this second, but I'm told he hangs out at the 475 00:32:57,400 --> 00:32:58,959 Speaker 13: Starbucks in Washington Square. 476 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 2: The heavily pregnant investigative journalist for the Oregonian newspaper told. 477 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 13: Me, you know, I had so much trouble finding doctors 478 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 13: willing to talk to me, even those doctors who worked 479 00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 13: with him and knew about his problems. 480 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 12: I don't know what it's. 481 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 13: Like in Australia, but here there's like this culture of 482 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 13: secrecy with the doctors. I went to one of the 483 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,000 Speaker 13: local doctors Association meetings and they broke into a jog 484 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 13: to get away from me. It was unbelievable. I was like, 485 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 13: what is wrong with these people? If you're a sicko 486 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 13: in this profession, you will be protected. But tell found 487 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 13: the right profession, and then he found the right specialty 488 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:39,920 Speaker 13: where there are a lot of complications. 489 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,240 Speaker 2: What is our strategy? I asked, Susan, do you want 490 00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,000 Speaker 2: to pull over and talk about it. 491 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,440 Speaker 13: Let's just bowl up and knock on the door. 492 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: She replied, so we did. 493 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:57,240 Speaker 2: She knocked, I called out. There were many questions. Why 494 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 2: did he keep operating in Bunderberg when it must have 495 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,720 Speaker 2: been obvious that his patients were suffering. How did he 496 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 2: cope knowing of the suffering, the deaths and the maiming 497 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:11,360 Speaker 2: and the psychological trauma? What if anything, would he like 498 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 2: to say to those affected? I went back to the 499 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 2: house five times and telephoned repeatedly, but nobody answered. Epilogue 500 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:37,800 Speaker 2: late two thousand and six, Beryl Crosby looked shattered wide 501 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 2: with devices to monitor her heart. She was still rushing 502 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 2: around helping others when she should have been resting. In 503 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 2: the weeks before Premier Peter Beatty called a circuit breaking 504 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 2: state election for nine September two thousand and six, the 505 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:57,240 Speaker 2: doctors at Bunderberg Hospital were worried about her high blood pressure, 506 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,720 Speaker 2: as well as her conflict with Rob Messenger. The unflagging 507 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,839 Speaker 2: advocate for the patients and the fearless politician were no 508 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:10,720 Speaker 2: longer allies. Rob Messenger believed that many of the several 509 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 2: hundred patients, and perhaps Crosby herself, were being unjustly treated 510 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 2: in Australia's largest compensation program for medical negligence. It included 511 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 2: free legal and medical advice and relatively generous payouts for 512 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 2: the physical injuries and psychiatric stress arising from Jayan Patel's surgery. 513 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 2: I'm devastated, Rob Messenger told me when I visited Bunderberg 514 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:41,320 Speaker 2: for a late July meeting of the patient support group. 515 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:45,840 Speaker 14: Beryl's line is that I'm just being political. She believes 516 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,479 Speaker 14: I'm using this to advance my political career, and that's 517 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 14: a big kick in the guts for me. Beryl and 518 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,839 Speaker 14: I no longer have a relationship. She believes the compensation 519 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,320 Speaker 14: system is operating fine. 520 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 2: Crosby, who had been sped to hospital by ambulance the 521 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:07,480 Speaker 2: previous week after collapsing from stress, could no longer cope 522 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 2: with Rob Messenger's interference. 523 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 15: Patients are walking out of meetings. We've had five now 524 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,040 Speaker 15: who say they won't come back because of him. People 525 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,279 Speaker 15: are angry with him. He's grandstanding. I think he's doing 526 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 15: it because he believes he's winning votes, but little does 527 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 15: he know he's losing them. I don't care if he 528 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,319 Speaker 15: burns up all the good will he had, but I 529 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:28,239 Speaker 15: care that he's upsetting the patients. Sads Bedlam. We were 530 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 15: great friends, she explained. 531 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 2: I had a hunt that the evening meeting of the 532 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 2: patient support group would herald news about the efforts to 533 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,920 Speaker 2: extradite j Aunt Patel from Oregon to Australia. The patients 534 00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:48,399 Speaker 2: hope the appearance of the Attorney General for Queensland, Linda Lavarge, 535 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 2: meant a breakthrough. 536 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 1: Others were skeptical. 537 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:57,040 Speaker 2: Karen Oriole, the mother of teenager Shannon Mobbs, who lost 538 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:00,400 Speaker 2: his leg and almost lost his life. 539 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,239 Speaker 16: I don't believe that Patel will ever be brought back 540 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:05,839 Speaker 16: to Australia because I think he would implicate too many 541 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:06,400 Speaker 16: other people. 542 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:10,520 Speaker 2: When I spoke to Jerry Kemps's widow, Judy at her 543 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:14,560 Speaker 2: retirement villa at Seaside Bagara, she was determined to see 544 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 2: the surgeon stand trial. 545 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,959 Speaker 16: I think Jerry was meant to go the way he did, 546 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,160 Speaker 16: to put a stop to all the carnage. But even 547 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:28,080 Speaker 16: now I'm having anxiety attacks. They're scary. I'm taking anidepressants. 548 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,279 Speaker 16: The police reckon, they are going to. 549 00:37:30,239 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 12: Have news soon. 550 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:34,360 Speaker 16: I'm glad they've made Jerry one of the manslaughter cases. 551 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 16: I feel as if he's contributing. I get so angry 552 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:40,839 Speaker 16: when people say, oh, they won't ever get Patel back here, 553 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,560 Speaker 16: I feel like slapping them. Of course they'll get him 554 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 16: back when the trial starts. I want to be in 555 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:49,960 Speaker 16: the front row. I will go every day, Judy said. 556 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,080 Speaker 2: A little after seven pm in a conference room at 557 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 2: the Brothers Club, the Varch and a small entourage took 558 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:03,239 Speaker 2: their seats. Me IDIA advisor Paul Childs quipped about new 559 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:08,759 Speaker 2: quality controls. We don't appoint anyone now without first googling them, 560 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:13,320 Speaker 2: he said. Levarch pledged that her door would remain open 561 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:18,280 Speaker 2: for anyone with complaints about the compensation. She was adamant 562 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:22,000 Speaker 2: that the ongoing efforts of the Director of Public Prosecutions 563 00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 2: Leanne Claire and the police to bring patell back for 564 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:31,120 Speaker 2: a criminal trial were completely independent from her office. This 565 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:32,799 Speaker 2: is how Linda Lavarch put it. 566 00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 5: I can't go down and say hurry up. They need 567 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 5: to be independent. They need to be given all the 568 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:41,879 Speaker 5: time they're required to investigate all the matters. You can 569 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,840 Speaker 5: categorically trust the office of the DPP to ensure that 570 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,480 Speaker 5: every matter is progressing well. You have all been courageous 571 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,720 Speaker 5: and the fact that you care about each other sends 572 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,279 Speaker 5: a very loud message to all of Queensland about what 573 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 5: a great community this is. 574 00:38:55,920 --> 00:39:00,319 Speaker 2: The patient stayed for tea and biscuits. Nelson Cox looked 575 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 2: as fit as a fiddle. Shannon Mobs, the youngest victim, 576 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 2: beamed as he walked on his new prosthetic leg, but 577 00:39:07,320 --> 00:39:11,360 Speaker 2: Marilyn Daisy down the back in her wheelchair, was unwell, 578 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:17,839 Speaker 2: although she did not let on. After an election campaign 579 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,720 Speaker 2: that went disastrously for the opposition, Premier Peter Beatty romped 580 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:26,680 Speaker 2: to victory at the polls in September. A few months earlier, 581 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 2: he was worried. 582 00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,920 Speaker 8: In the end health could be the death of me. 583 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 8: We've got a fight on our hands, but it's a 584 00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:36,399 Speaker 8: fight we can win. 585 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:40,920 Speaker 2: But Beattie had faced up to a disaster that I 586 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:45,319 Speaker 2: suspected he knew was partly of his own making. He 587 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:50,439 Speaker 2: started an unprecedented process of reform. He was braver than 588 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 2: any other Australian politician confronted with a health crisis. The 589 00:39:55,520 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 2: political pundits, who had predicted serious pain for his Labor government, 590 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 2: attributed Beattie's fourth term triumph to the voting public's discussed 591 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 2: at the strife torn opposition, which had failed dismally in 592 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:13,400 Speaker 2: its attempts to capitalize on the health scandal. One of 593 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:18,000 Speaker 2: Labour's few losses was in the retiring NTA Cunningham's one 594 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:23,319 Speaker 2: safe seat of Bunderberg. As I settled into my new 595 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:28,080 Speaker 2: role at the Australian newspaper, reliable sources hinted at something 596 00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:33,840 Speaker 2: that seemed incredible. Through his lawyers, Patel had secretly offered 597 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 2: to return voluntarily to Brisbane before the state election. Weeks 598 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 2: of highly confidential talks between his legal defense team and 599 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 2: the DPP had culminated in Lean Clair recommending to Linda 600 00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:52,520 Speaker 2: Levartz that the Patel deal be approved. It was an 601 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:57,160 Speaker 2: extraordinary opportunity. It would have saved years of costly and 602 00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:03,240 Speaker 2: uncertain extradition proceedings. As part of the package, Patel's lawyers, 603 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,280 Speaker 2: Damien Scatini in Brisbane and Stephen Howes in the United 604 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:13,080 Speaker 2: States had sought undertakings from DPP Lianclaire and Attorney General 605 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,680 Speaker 2: Linda le Art that bail would not be opposed at 606 00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 2: an initial court appearance in Brisbane. If a magistrate agreed 607 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:25,520 Speaker 2: to grant bail, Jay Patel would fly back to Oregon 608 00:41:25,680 --> 00:41:28,719 Speaker 2: and remain at his home until the start of his 609 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:33,600 Speaker 2: criminal trial in Brisbane Supreme Court. He had also offered 610 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:38,200 Speaker 2: to give up his passport and to report to Portland Police. 611 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:42,759 Speaker 2: Queensland's best legal minds told me on and off the 612 00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,160 Speaker 2: record that Linda la Arch should have snatched the deal, 613 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:51,520 Speaker 2: particularly as Claire and her top prosecutors David Meredith and 614 00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 2: Ross Martin had urged acceptance. After exploring the fine details. 615 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 2: Richard Douglas the Davies Inquiry, his former senior lawyer, told me, how. 616 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,360 Speaker 17: Is the public going to be served by getting doctor 617 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,280 Speaker 17: Patel back in two or three years? People die, People 618 00:42:10,280 --> 00:42:14,759 Speaker 17: forget who operated on whom time defeats proper outcomes, and 619 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:19,040 Speaker 17: once people's recollections are taxed, people who should be convicted 620 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:20,799 Speaker 17: are not convicted. 621 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:27,680 Speaker 2: I thought of the elderly Judy Kemps. The evening after 622 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:32,360 Speaker 2: Marilyn Daisy's death at Bunderberg Hospital in October, I called 623 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:37,279 Speaker 2: Linda Leavarch's mobile phone. I already knew that the proposed 624 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,640 Speaker 2: deal to get Patel back had failed. I knew that 625 00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:44,840 Speaker 2: Linda Lavarch had stubbornly refused to support it, despite the 626 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 2: DPP's lobbying. Her surprise decision, after consulting the Premier, Peter 627 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:55,080 Speaker 2: Beatty behind closed doors, was final. The office of the 628 00:42:55,160 --> 00:43:01,120 Speaker 2: DPP was unimpressed. Patel was dumbfounded when d Imian Scatini 629 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:05,200 Speaker 2: told him of the Queensland government's veto. For more than 630 00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 2: a year, politicians had been demanding Petel's scalp, some proposed 631 00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:14,280 Speaker 2: hiring bounty hunters. Now he was being told stay away. 632 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:16,399 Speaker 1: I was in no. 633 00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:20,400 Speaker 2: Doubt that the decision had been influenced by political rather 634 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:24,640 Speaker 2: than legal reasons. The return of Patel at that time 635 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:28,160 Speaker 2: could have been disastrous for Beattie. So close to the 636 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:33,200 Speaker 2: state election, Labor had directed its small target campaign away 637 00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:38,320 Speaker 2: from health. The politicians had concealed the deal's existence even 638 00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:40,880 Speaker 2: as they spoke in public about the need for a 639 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 2: trial and closure for patients. But the subterfuge was almost over. 640 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:51,280 Speaker 2: When Linda Lavarch answered her mobile phone and nervously defended 641 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,640 Speaker 2: her decision. The front page of The Australian was already 642 00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:59,440 Speaker 2: being drawn under the headline Beattie scuttled got the death Deal. 643 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:05,000 Speaker 2: The news stunned and appalled the patients, particularly Beryl Crosby, 644 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:08,439 Speaker 2: who recalled Linda la Arch's visit in late July when 645 00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:11,279 Speaker 2: she insisted her office had nothing to do with the 646 00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:16,320 Speaker 2: Independent d p P. When she had addressed the patients 647 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:20,160 Speaker 2: that July evening at the Brothers Club, Lavarch had already 648 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:24,719 Speaker 2: secretly rejected the Patel proposal some four weeks earlier. The 649 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:29,040 Speaker 2: story in The Australian developed momentum and provoked widespread anger. 650 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,239 Speaker 2: Peter Beatty and Linda la Arch were accused of misleading 651 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 2: State Parliament. 652 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: They denied it. 653 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 2: Damien Scatini broke his silence and forced Bettie to retract 654 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:46,120 Speaker 2: false claims. Beryl Crosbie demanded the release of all relevant documents. 655 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:50,280 Speaker 2: In the same week, Marilyn Daisy was laid to rest 656 00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:55,880 Speaker 2: after apologizing for covering up information and misleading the public. 657 00:44:56,239 --> 00:45:01,080 Speaker 2: Lavarch quit as Attorney General on eighteen October citing depression. 658 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:06,319 Speaker 2: A warrant seeking Jant Patel's arrest was taken by Queensland 659 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:09,920 Speaker 2: Police to a Brisbane magistrate on twenty two November two 660 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 2: thousand and six. The warrant, a formal trigger to start 661 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:20,680 Speaker 2: and extradition process, listed numerous proposed charges including manslaughter, grievous 662 00:45:20,719 --> 00:45:25,560 Speaker 2: bodily harm and fraud. The news of the development overwhelmed 663 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:29,440 Speaker 2: many of the patients and their relatives. Beryl Crosby was 664 00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:33,680 Speaker 2: kept busy briefing her members and doing interviews. Judy Kemps 665 00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:37,040 Speaker 2: broke down her husband was named in the warrant as 666 00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:42,640 Speaker 2: one of the three manslaughter cases. Mostly my sources believed 667 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,960 Speaker 2: that Patel would not be coming back, or at least 668 00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:50,160 Speaker 2: not for a long time. The Director of Public Prosecutions, 669 00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:54,520 Speaker 2: Leanne Claire warned that the extradition proceedings would be complicated 670 00:45:54,640 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 2: and time consuming, but as Beryl Crosby told the patients, 671 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:09,319 Speaker 2: it was a start. Jayant Patel's favorite restaurant in Bunderberg, 672 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:14,040 Speaker 2: the Indian Curry Bazaar, has been busier than ever. Tourists 673 00:46:14,120 --> 00:46:18,400 Speaker 2: ask Pam Samra to sell the placemats she has retailed 674 00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:23,360 Speaker 2: dozens of souvenirs. Former Health Minister Gordon Nuttle was forced 675 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,200 Speaker 2: to quit politics in disgrace after the Crime and Misconduct 676 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 2: Commission found that he had lied to State Parliament about 677 00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:35,320 Speaker 2: his knowledge of problems with overseas trained doctors. Having rescued 678 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:39,200 Speaker 2: the health inquiry, Jeff Davies became a key advisor on 679 00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:43,280 Speaker 2: health to the Beaty government and the Royal Australasian College 680 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:48,719 Speaker 2: of Surgeons. Queensland Health now boasts an independent Health Quality 681 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:54,920 Speaker 2: and Complaints Commission with more powers, more resources and more responsibility. 682 00:46:55,840 --> 00:47:00,200 Speaker 2: The government created hundreds of extra places for doctors. There 683 00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:04,880 Speaker 2: is new transparency on surgery performance and waiting times, and 684 00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:06,960 Speaker 2: one thousand extra nurses. 685 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,480 Speaker 1: Tony Hoffman has another. 686 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:14,920 Speaker 2: Award Whistleblower of the Year. The citation says that she 687 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,040 Speaker 2: put herself on the line to save lives. She has 688 00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,960 Speaker 2: been to lunch with the Governor General, to dinner with 689 00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:26,680 Speaker 2: the Queen and had cocktails with the Prime Minister. Doctor 690 00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:29,920 Speaker 2: Jared Neville and his wife Larraine have been looking ahead 691 00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:34,239 Speaker 2: when told of their daughter Elisa's special role in the 692 00:47:34,360 --> 00:48:02,880 Speaker 2: jant Ptel scandal. They wept for my book Sick to 693 00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:07,440 Speaker 2: Death two decades ago. Jeff Davies, the former Supreme Court 694 00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:11,840 Speaker 2: of Appeal judge and the former Health Inquiry commissioner, kindly 695 00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:14,239 Speaker 2: wrote these words. 696 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:20,880 Speaker 7: As headly Thomas accurately describes it. This is the story 697 00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:24,560 Speaker 7: of the once in a lifetime scandal of Jay and Patel, 698 00:48:24,960 --> 00:48:29,160 Speaker 7: and the wider story of how political interference and bureaucratic 699 00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:35,200 Speaker 7: incompetence conspired against a health system. It is an absorbing account, 700 00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 7: even though I knew many, though by no means most 701 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:42,560 Speaker 7: of the facts mister Thomas relates. I found this book 702 00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:46,239 Speaker 7: hard to put down. For those who find some of 703 00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:49,920 Speaker 7: it hard to believe, I can say to the extent 704 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,319 Speaker 7: that it covers the evidence in my inquiry. It is 705 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:57,600 Speaker 7: an accurate account. Moreover, whilst I may not agree with 706 00:48:57,719 --> 00:49:01,680 Speaker 7: all of mister Thomas's opinions, I believe that this book 707 00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:06,160 Speaker 7: is a salutary warning to present and future governments, to 708 00:49:06,200 --> 00:49:09,839 Speaker 7: the bureaucracy, and to the public as to what can 709 00:49:09,920 --> 00:49:15,120 Speaker 7: happen when problems are concealed. I hope that warning is heeded. 710 00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 7: There is one glaring omission in the book Whilst mister 711 00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:25,080 Speaker 7: Thomas praises the roles of Miss Hoffman and mister Messenger 712 00:49:25,480 --> 00:49:29,680 Speaker 7: in bringing the scandal to light, he is unduly modest 713 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,960 Speaker 7: about his own contribution. This is part of what I 714 00:49:33,040 --> 00:49:38,800 Speaker 7: said about him in my report. His investigative skill, persistence 715 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:44,040 Speaker 7: and undoubted authority as a respected journalist ensured that public 716 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:49,400 Speaker 7: notice and government action was taken, notwithstanding the apparent reluctance 717 00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:54,080 Speaker 7: of hospital administrators and officers of Queensland Health to take 718 00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:59,080 Speaker 7: appropriate action to permit the matter to be exposed. I 719 00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:02,400 Speaker 7: went on later in the report to detail his important 720 00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:08,160 Speaker 7: contribution to this. The revelations of mister Thomas and others 721 00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:13,120 Speaker 7: leading to my inquiry and report have already resulted in 722 00:50:13,200 --> 00:50:18,839 Speaker 7: a huge increase in the health budget and substantial worthwhile reforms, 723 00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:24,600 Speaker 7: beneficial consequences of those reforms may not emerge for some time. 724 00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:31,400 Speaker 7: More importantly, these benefits will ultimately be lost unless government 725 00:50:31,520 --> 00:50:35,520 Speaker 7: and the bureaucracy maintain the will to put patient care 726 00:50:35,600 --> 00:50:42,080 Speaker 7: and openness ahead of economic rationalism. This compelling account will 727 00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:47,720 Speaker 7: focus attention on that need. The Honorable Jeffrey Davies, AO, 728 00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:52,200 Speaker 7: Commissioner of the Queensland Public Hospitals Commission, of inquiry. 729 00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:59,200 Speaker 2: In the next and final stage of this podcast series, 730 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:04,360 Speaker 2: are going to hear about dramatic and surprising developments after 731 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:07,240 Speaker 2: the release of my book in early two thousand and seven, 732 00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:12,520 Speaker 2: the police pursuit of doctor Patel, his eventual extradition from 733 00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:16,759 Speaker 2: the United States to Queensland, the criminal trials of the 734 00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:22,120 Speaker 2: disgrace surgeon, and of course his appeals to higher courts 735 00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:28,200 Speaker 2: until finally it was all over. There were some remarkable 736 00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:38,719 Speaker 2: outcomes and you'll hear about those in the finale. Sick 737 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:42,320 Speaker 2: to Death is written and presented by me Hedley Thomas, 738 00:51:42,520 --> 00:51:47,640 Speaker 2: the Australians National Chief correspondent. Claire Harvey is The Australian's 739 00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:53,160 Speaker 2: editorial director. Audio editing, production and music have been done 740 00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:58,560 Speaker 2: by Jasper Leik with assistance from Leah Sammaglu and Neil Sutherland. 741 00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:04,000 Speaker 2: Our producer is Christen Amias. Production management by Stephanie Coombs, 742 00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:10,200 Speaker 2: artwork by Sean Callanan. Thanks to Ryan Osland, Matthew Condon, 743 00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:17,160 Speaker 2: Kaarina Berger, Ellie Dudley, David Murray, Dominique McDermott, Zach Sculander 744 00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:21,239 Speaker 2: and all our family, friends and colleagues who helped in 745 00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:26,080 Speaker 2: this series and contributed voice acting and special thanks to 746 00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:31,640 Speaker 2: Tony Hoffman and Rob Messenger. Subscribers to The Australian. Here 747 00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:35,960 Speaker 2: new episodes of Sick to Death first at Sick to 748 00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:41,440 Speaker 2: deathpodcast dot com and on Apple Podcasts. You can get 749 00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:47,080 Speaker 2: exclusive access to photographs, videos, timelines and more at the 750 00:52:47,120 --> 00:53:00,600 Speaker 2: website