A former patient Friday testified in an Australian court against an Indian-origin doctor he has accused of causing grievous bodily harm.
Ian Rodney Vowles, 66, told the Brisbane District Court Friday that he was not given any alternative to surgery by surgeon Jayant Patel and that left him with ongoing health problems, ABC News reported.
Patel, who worked in the Bundaberg Base Hospital in the Australian state of Queensland, has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Vowles by unnecessarily removing his colon and rectum in 2004.
Vowles said he would have opted to have regular colonoscopies if he had been given the option.
He said that though he was feeling fit and healthy, he was unable to work full time.
He told the court that he was more upset than angry.
He also denied that he had threatened to sue if anything went wrong.
Prosecutors told the court that Patel wrongly removed the patient's cancer-free bowel after finding a benign growth, leaving him impotent and requiring a colonoscopy bag.
However, under cross examination by defence counsel Ken Fleming, Vowles conceded he previously had bowel cancer as had his mother and sister.
The defence lawyer told the court that Vowles wanted to live a life free of the risk of cancer returning after Patel's surgery and he got one.
The Jamnagar, Gujarat-born Patel had a controversial tenure in the hospital from 2003 to early 2005, during which over 80 deaths were linked to him and 30 patients died in his care.
After that, he left for Portland, Oregon, in the US.
He was, however, extradited to Australia in 2008 to face trial.
The ongoing trial has been adjourned until Monday.
