A commission of inquiry into the appointment, conduct, and oversight of Jayant Patel, the doctor at the centre of investigations after 13 deaths at Queensland’s Bundaberg Hospital (BMJ 2005;330:985), has been disbanded.
It follows a Supreme Court of Queensland ruling that Commissioner Tony Morris QC, heading the investigation, had "ostensible bias" against two government health officials.
The decision followed applications to the Supreme Court by Darren Keating, the director of medical services at the Bundaberg Base Hospital, and his superior, Peter Leck, the Queensland health district manager.
In his decision Justice Moynihan found that Mr Morris had made statements that were "sarcastic" and "belittling" of Mr Leck and, referring to Dr Keating, displayed "a pervasive disdain for or contempt towards bureaucrats". He also found that in "stark contrast" to the treatment of Mr Leck and Dr Keating other witnesses were openly praised, creating the impression that "they were more favoured" by him.
After the ruling, Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, rejected pleas from the Bundaberg Patients Support Group that the inquiry be continued. Despite Mr Morris’s inquiry having completed 50 days of hearings, Mr Beattie decided that issues raised in the inquiry should be referred to existing investigations by other agencies.
The termination of the inquiry has also nullified Mr Morris’s preliminary report, which recommended that Dr Patel be charged with a range of offences and be sought for extradition from the United States (bmj.com, 25 June 2005, News Extra,). Neither Dr Patel nor his legal representatives appeared before the inquiry. One of Dr Patel’s legal team in Australia, Damien Scattini, has previously ruled out Dr Patel’s return from the US in the absence of any criminal charges.
Although Queensland’s detectives continue to investigate Dr Patel about the 13 deaths and numerous injuries attributed to his alleged lack of appropriate care (bmj.com, 9 July, News Extra), no formal charges have yet been laid. Queensland Police insist that, as they were gathering evidence separately, the end of the inquiry will have little effect on their investigation.
Mr Beattie announced that a legal team will review evidence gathered in the Morris inquiry and refer any "uncontaminated" evidence to other agencies. He has also asked that matters relating to the conduct of hospital officials be handled by the Crime and Misconduct Commission. The government is also seeking to settle compensation claims by 179 of Dr Patel’s former patients.
Last week, Justice Martin Moynihan found that the evidence was such that it would "give rise, in the mind of a fair minded and informed member of the community, to a reasonable apprehension of lack of impartiality on the commissioner’s part in dealing with issues relating to each of the applicants."
He also found against the two associate commissioners, Llewellyn Edwards and Margaret Vider, on the ground that they "did not disassociate themselves" from Mr Morris’s conduct.
