Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Federal Bureau of Investigation  arrested Dr. Jayant "Giant" Patel Tuesday at his home in Washington County.  Patel is facing 16 charges in Australia ranging from manslaughter to fraud.   Australian authorities issued  a warrant for his arrest in 2006.  Patel appeared in Federal Court yesterday for a preliminary hearing.  Andrew Theen was there.

Jayant Patel wore wire-rimmed glasses and a checked sweater and said little.  Patel is known in the Australian media as "Dr. Death." His arrest is huge news down under.  

Patel served  as director of surgery at Queensland's Bundaberg Base Hospital from 2003-2005 before he resigned and fled the country and a slew of charges.   The biggest ones: that Patel caused the death of three patients.

Mary Sawyers is a spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente in Portland.  She said Patel worked for Kaiser from 1989 until he resigned in 2001.  Towards the end of his tenure he was facing intense scrutiny.

Mary Sawyers: "Northwest Permanente restricted him from doing complex surgeries in 1998 and reported him to the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners in 1998."

In his tenure at Kaiser Patel, was implicated in malpractice cases as early as  1993.  And reports of negligence and fraud date back to his days in New York. By 2001 New York and Oregon had suspended his medical license.  Australian authorities are charging Patel will fraud for lying about his checkered past.

Patel is being detained until another hearing on Thursday.  His court-appointed attorney Susan Russell said he is not a flight risk and that he turned over his passport  to US authorities two years ago.  Russell will make the case for his release again on Thursday.  His extradition hearing is tentatively set for April 10th.