The Queensland Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry, often referred to as the Davies Commission, was an inquiry into public hospitals in
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. The inquiry was headed by The Honourable
Geoffrey Davies
Geoffrey Walsh Davies (15 December 1938 – 13 July 2023) was an English actor.
Early life and career
The son of an accountant, Davies was educated at grammar school and studied at art college to be a commercial artist before becoming an acto ...
AO QC, a former
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
judge of appeal.
Establishment
The commission was established by the Queensland Governor-In-Council in 2005 to investigate, among other things, the conduct of Dr
Jayant Patel
Jayant Mukundray Patel (born April 10, 1950 ) 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 public ...
, a former surgeon of
Bundaberg Base Hospital
Bundaberg Base Hospital is the public hospital of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. Bundaberg Base Hospital was opened by the Governor of Queensland in 1914.
A base hospital is a regional centre that takes referrals from outlying hospitals, and ...
. It was not a
Royal Commission
A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...
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.
Bundaberg Hospital administrators Darren Keating and Peter Leck undertook a court case against Morris.
The Morris Inquiry was wound up after Supreme Court Justice Martin Moynihan found Mr Morris had been biased.
Hearings began on 23 May 2005.
Findings
The commission found gross
negligence
Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances.
Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a neg ...
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
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 ce ...
,
fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
, and
assault
In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
charges. In total seventeen patient deaths were referred to police.
An
extradition
In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...
process was begun after the police issued a warrant for Patel, acting on 14 offences.
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".
The state chief health officer at the time, Dr Gerry FitzGerald was criticised for his own investigation into Patel, describing it as too positive.
See also
*
Health care in Australia
Health care in Australia operates under a shared public-private model underpinned by the Medicare (Australia), Medicare system, the national Single-payer healthcare, single-payer funding model. States and territories of Australia, State and ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
The Davies Commission website
Public inquiries in Australia
2005 establishments in Australia
Hospitals in Queensland
Queensland commissions of inquiry