AAP A judge warned jurors they must not watch a news report about former Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel. Former Bundaberg surgeon Jayant Patel told a patient he would be as fit as a horse after his bowel was removed, a court has heard.
Patel is on trial in the District Court in Brisbane for causing grievous bodily harm to patient Ian Rodney Vowels during an operation in 2004.
Crown Prosecutor Peter Davis, SC, on Tuesday told the court the operation, which removed Mr Vowels’ bowel and rectum, should not have occurred at all.
He said it was an unlawful act that has caused grievous bodily harm to Mr Vowels.
“He should not now be dependent on a bag to catch faeces in a hole in his abdomen,” Mr Davis said.
“Mr Vowels has suffered general health problems as a result; fatigue has been one of the things that has affected him and he has had a loss of sexual function.”
He said the former cabinet maker was initially reluctant to have his bowel removed but consented after Patel told him the growth, while benign, was attached to the bowel’s wall and he could not be sure there was no cancer behind it.
“He told Mr Vowels ‘your bowel does not like your body, we will whip it out’.
“He assured Mr Vowels that everything would be fine after the operation and that Mr Vowels would be running around like a horse,” Mr Davis said.
Mr Vowels did have a cancerous growth removed from his bowel in 2003, and the bowel was not removed in its entirety then, Mr Davis said.
The trial continues.
