Davies Commission

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The Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry, often referred to as the Davies Commission, was an inquiry into public hospitals in Queensland, Australia. The inquiry was headed by The Honourable Geoffrey Davies AO QC, a former Supreme Court judge of appeal.

Queensland North-east state of Australia

Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).

Australia Country in Oceania

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.

Supreme Court of Queensland

The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland.

Contents

Establishment

The commission was established by the Queensland Governor-In-Council in 2005 to investigate, among other things, the conduct of Dr Jayant Patel, a former surgeon of Bundaberg Base Hospital. It was not a Royal Commission and therefore had limited powers. The Commission commenced after the failure of a similar commission headed by Mr Tony Morris, called the Bundaberg Hospital Commission of Inquiry.

Jayant Patel American surgeon

Jayant Mukundray Patel is an Indian-born American surgeon who was accused of gross negligence whilst working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia. Deaths of some of Patel's patients led to widespread publicity in 2005. In June 2010, Patel was convicted of three counts of manslaughter and one case of grievous bodily harm, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. In August 2012, all convictions were quashed by the full bench of the High Court of Australia and a retrial was ordered due to "highly emotive and prejudicial evidence that was irrelevant to the case" laid before the jury. A retrial for one of the manslaughter counts resulted in acquittal and led to a plea deal where Patel pleaded guilty to fraud and the remaining charges were dropped. On 15 May 2015, he was barred from practising medicine in Australia.

Bundaberg Base Hospital is the public hospital of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia.

Bundaberg Hospital administrators Darren Keating and Peter Leck undertook a court case against Morris. [1] The Morris Inquiry was wound up after Supreme Court Justice Martin Moynihan found Mr Morris had been biased. [2] Hearings began on 23 May 2005.

Findings

The commission found gross negligence in Patel's conduct, as well as systematic failures of management to deal with the problem. Davies recommended that Patel be referred to the public prosecutor for consideration of manslaughter, fraud, and assault charges. [3] In total seventeen patient deaths were referred to police. [1] An extradition process was begun after the police issued a warrant for Patel, acting on 14 offences.

Negligence is a failure to exercise appropriate and or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by failing to act as a form of carelessness possibly with extenuating circumstances. The core concept of negligence is that people should exercise reasonable care in their actions, by taking account of the potential harm that they might foreseeably cause to other people or property.

Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th century BCE.

In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud itself can be a civil wrong, a criminal wrong, or it may cause no loss of money, property or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, such as obtaining a passport or travel document, driver's license or qualifying for a mortgage by way of false statements.

The report also found that amongst Queensland Health bureaucrats concerns regarding "significant and sustained statewide adverse publicity" were rated as significant as "loss of life". [4]

The state chief health officer at the time, Dr Gerry FitzGerald was criticised for his own investigation into Patel, describing it as too positive. [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Dan Nancarrow (30 June 2010). "The long road to justice". Brisbane Times. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Parliament should conduct inquiries, Morris says". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 October 2005. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry" (PDF). 30 November 2005.
  4. ↑ Patrick Lion (3 December 2008). "Public servants fear bad publicity". The Courier Mail. News Queensland. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Inquiry told of conflict between whistleblower and Dr Patel". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 October 2005. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
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