In my opinion, Dr Patel, who was described by the media as Doctor Death because he allegedly maimed and killed patients at a hospital in Queensland, will never be convicted.

Patel has been living in Portland, Oregon after the Queensland government paid for his fare out of Australia. After many protests by the public, the government has been trying to bring him back to Australia to put him on trial. Until now he has fought the extradition orders in spite of being finally arrested in Oregon.

Suddenly, he has decided to face his accusers. I believe that if he is let out of jail he will disappear to a safe country.

This would suit the Queensland government which does not want to admit that it was the Health system that was to blame for hiring a doctor who already had a bad record in the U.S. Anybody who googled his name could have discovered that he was unqualified to perform the surgeries which he botched. In fact it was a journalist who discovered Patel’s murky past, something the Health Department failed to do.

Should the doctor actually return to Queensland then he will not be convicted. Medical negligence is very hard to prove and the doctor knows this.

The Premier of Queensland would cheer if Patel absconded. Premier Bligh would shrug and shake her head and pretend that the government had really really tried to do something about the problem. My heart goes out to the poor victims who believe that justice will be done.

Meanwhile, the Health system in Queensland will remain in terrible shape until a new government comes to power. The current one has been in too long and done too much sweeping under the carpet. Dr Patel knows this and has nothing to fear from the Queensland authorities. It’s not the first time that someone has gotten away with murder and, in my opinion, Patel is more innocent than the bureaucrats who employed him.