An Indian-origin American surgeon in Australia today got a rare privilege to poll the jury panel to weed out potentially biased jurors from his high-profile case.
Jayant Patel, 62, has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm to a patient, Ian Vowles, during colon surgery at Bundaberg hospital in southern Queensland in 2004.
At a pre-trial hearing in the District Court in Brisbane today, Patel's lawyers said they were concerned previous negative publicity may affect a jury's ability to deliver a fair and reasonable verdict in next month's trial.
Barrister Ken Fleming for Patel told the court a simple Google search on a computer using the name Jayent Patel or the term "Dr Death" could yield anywhere up to 661 million online articles.
After the hearing, judge granted him the rare privilege of polling potential jurors to establish if they are biased due to adverse media coverage.
Fleming said his client had been subjected to unprecedented media scrutiny over "many years now".
Patel's application relates to his proposed three week trial, set to commence on September 23, for allegedly causing grievous bodily harm to Vowles.
It is alleged Vowles suffered major complications as a result of Patel "whipping out" his bowel.
