Melbourne: India-born surgeon Jayant Patel, who returned to Australia from the US to face manslaughter and other charges in the deaths of over a dozen patients, was on Monday granted a conditional bail by a court in Brisbane.
The 58-year-old US citizen, dubbed as ‘Dr death’ by the media here, will be released tomorrow morning after Magistrate Brian Hine gave him bail on a surety of 20,000 Australian dollars.
Patel, who will be back in the court in Queensland state in September, has been asked to surrender his passport, report to police three times a week, not to approach any international departure points, live at a place approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions and reside in Queensland.
Earlier in the day, he arrived in the capital of Queensland from Los Angeles in a Qantas Airways flight, escorted by Australian police officers and was taken to a police watchhouse before being produced in the court.
Patel, who hails from Gujarat, is facing 13 charges, including manslaughter for the death of three of his patients, stemming from his time as director of surgery at the Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland from 2003 to 2005.
If convicted, he could get a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The doctor who shifted to Oregon, US after doubts about his work practices were raised in Australia, had on June 26 voluntarily agreed to his extradition. The US District Court in Oregon had set a July 21 deadline for extradition, failing which he would have been released on strict bail conditions.
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