Bundaberg Base Hospital is the public hospital of Bundaberg

Bundaberg, Queensland

Bundaberg is a city in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Local Government Area of the Bundaberg Region and is a major centre within Queensland's broader Wide Bay-Burnett geographical region...

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

A base hospital is a regional centre that takes referrals from outlying hospitals, and concentrates specialised skills. Australia has a universal publicly funded health insurance scheme, so a 'public' hospital is one that is supported by public funds rather than by charging individual patients. There are two private hospitals in the same city.

The Hospital has an annual budget of $56 million.

Jayant Patel

Bundaberg Hospital was the scene of a political scandal, due to the 'gross negligence' of one of its surgeons, Jayant Patel

Jayant Patel

Jayant Mukundray Patel , referred to as Doctor Death is a surgeon who is at the centre of a 2005 scandal in which he was accused of gross incompetence while working at Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia...

. Manslaughter

Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 charges have been recommended against him, while charges of official misconduct have been levelled at the hospital's Director of Medical Services (the top-ranked doctor) and District Manager (the CEO).

Patel for the unlawful killing

Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 of three patients, and grievous bodily harm

Grievous bodily harm

Grievous bodily harm is a term of art used in English criminal law which has become synonymous with the offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861....

 to a fourth
On 29 June 2010, Jayant Patel was found guilty of the unlawful killing

Manslaughter

Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

 of three patients, and grievous bodily harm

Grievous bodily harm

Grievous bodily harm is a term of art used in English criminal law which has become synonymous with the offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861....

to a fourth. On 1 July he was sentenced to seven years jail for his offences..