Jayant Patel

Who is Jayant Patel?

Jayant Mukundray Patel is an Indian-born American surgeon who was accused of gross negligence whilst working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia. Deaths of some of Dr Patel's patients led to widespread publicity in 2005. In June 2010, Patel was convicted of 3 counts of manslaughter and one case of grievous bodily harm, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. In August 2012, all convictions were quashed by the full bench of the High Court of Australia and a retrial was ordered due to 'highly emotive and prejudicial evidence that was irrelevant to the case' led before the jury. A retrial for one of the manslaughter counts resulted in acquittal and led to a plea deal where Patel pleaded guilty to fraud and the remaining charges were dropped.