Australian Doctor Australian Doctor 15th September 2017 | Page 14

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conviction, of anaesthetist
Dr John Adomako, who
failed to notice an alarm
sounding when a patient’s
breathing tube fell out dur-
ing an eye operation.
In the 20 years before R
v Adomako, in 1990, there
were two UK medical man-
slaughter cases. In the fol-
lowing 10 years, the number
rose to 13.
In the UK, as in Aus-
tralia, prosecutors can only
proceed if they believe a
case is likely to succeed.
The Adomako case showed
UK prosecutors that man-
slaughter convictions were
possible.
It was for this reason that
some lawyers in Australia
thought the case of Dr Jay-
ant Patel — a man branded
‘Dr Death’ as a result of his
alleged incompetence —
would be the game-changer.
After a newspaper exposé
and mass media coverage,
an independent inquiry was
launched, where surgeon
Dr Peter Woodruff found
that Dr Patel’s substandard
surgical care contributed
to 13 deaths and may have
contributed to another
four.
Manslaughter
charges
were eventually laid in 2010
and Dr Patel was found
guilty of killing three of his
patients.
The
Crown
alleged
that there had been poor
decision-making and mis-
diagnosis, with surgery per-
formed on inappropriate
patients and the