Ex-surgeon backs India-born doctor on trial in Australia

A former surgeon testified in an Australian court Wednesday in support of an India-born doctor standing trial for causing grievous bodily harm to a patient.

Ex-surgeon William Kingston told the Brisbane District Court that the surgery carried out by Indian origin surgeon Jayant Patel on Ian Rodney Vowles in 2004 to remove his colon was justified, media reported.

Patel, who worked in the Bundaberg Base Hospital in the Australian state of Queensland, has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to 65-year-old Rodney Vowles by unnecessarily removing his colon.

Kingston pointed out that the patient had suffered two serious colon cancers four years before the operation by Patel.

He said the removal of the colon saved Vowles from suffering from future colon cancers.

Defence lawyer Ken Fleming told the court that Vowles had half of his colon removed in 1999 due to cancer.

In 2004, Fleming said, another polyp was detected on Vowles that was in a bad state which was why Patel went ahead with the surgery to remove the colon.

The Jamnagar, Gujarat-born Patel had a controversial tenure in the hospital from 2003 to early 2005, during which over 80 deaths were linked to him and 30 patients died in his care.

After that, he left for Portland, Oregon, in the US.

He was, however, extradited to Australia in 2008 to face trial.

His trial continues in the Brisbane court.