Surgeon linked to 87 deaths in Australia

An Indian-trained surgeon linked by health officials to the deaths of at least 87 patients in Australia over two years should be charged with murder, a government inquiry recommended today.

Jayant Patel, an Indian-born US citizen, was hired by the Bundaberg Base Hospital in 2003 despite having been cited for negligence in the US states of Oregon and New York, where he was forced to surrender his licence in 2001.