Hoffman flagged her concerns about Patel’s incompetence with Bundaberg Base Hospital administrators, where he served as Director of Surgery between 2003 and 2005, more than a dozen times, but they were brushed off as a personality clash with the Indian-trained doctor.
A Google search by The Australian’s National Chief Correspondent Hedley Thomas revealed Patel had been banned from performing certain surgeries in Oregon and was struck off by the state of New York prior to his appointment in Bundaberg.
Thomas would later learn bureaucrats at Queensland Health had made the same discovery days earlier, but covered it up.
The moment Thomas told Hoffman he’d been able to verify the publicly available records is explored in a new episode of The Australian’s investigative podcast series Sick to Death.
Hoffman put her career and personal and professional relationships in jeopardy to blow the whistle on Patel, and cried with relief at her vindication by Thomas’ investigation for The Courier-Mail.
With support from hospital administrators, Patel performed more than 1000 operations during his tenure at Bundaberg Base Hospital.
A 2005 Commission of Inquiry found 13 patients died as a result of his negligence and scores more suffered serious complications.
In 2013, Patel admitting to hiding his professional records from authorities and pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud relating to his medical registration in Queensland.
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