BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (AP) - An American doctor charged with manslaughter in the deaths of three patients at a rural Australian hospital has been ordered to stand trial.
A Brisbane Magistrates Court judge on Monday ruled there was enough evidence to send Jayant Patel to trial on three counts of manslaughter and 10 other charges, including grievous bodily harm.
The charges relate to Patel’s job as director of surgery between 2003 and 2005 at a hospital in Bundaberg, 230 miles (370 kilometers) north of Brisbane in Queensland state. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Patel, who was extradited from the U.S. in July, has not entered a plea or spoken publicly about the accusations.
Prosecutors say Patel showed a pattern of negligence by performing surgeries he’d been banned from undertaking in the U.S., misdiagnosing patients and using sloppy surgical techniques.
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