Episode 16: Dear Dr Patel
3/13/202653 min
As Hedley travels to the United States in hopes of a face-to-face interview with Jayant Patel, Geoff Davies delivers his findings to Premier Peter Beattie. The result is a multimillion-dollar cash injection into Queensland Health.
Plus, life goes on for patients treated by the incompetent surgeon and Hedley picks up the story for The Australian.
Two new episodes of Sick to Death will be available in the coming weeks. They include fresh interviews and careful analysis of how the criminal justice system dealt with Dr Patel and how it grappled with the extremely rare occurrence of...
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKatie Page0:00
I'm Katie Page, CEO of Harvey Norman. Since 2018, Harvey Norman has been a key partner in The Australian's investigative podcasts, such as Sick to Death, Bronwyn, Shandi's Story, The Teacher's Pet, and The Night Driver. Harvey Norman are proud sponsors of The Australian's podcast investigations and their award-winning journalism.
Hedley Thomas· Host0:21
[gentle music] My name is Hedley Thomas. Sick to Death is based on my book of the same name, and it's the true story of Dr. Jayant Patel's lies and manipulation, and the Herculean effort it took to finally stop him. We've used voice actors throughout this series, and on occasion, the real people from the story have read their words for us. It is brought to you by me and The Australian. [tense music] [pensive music] Chapter 72: An Ill Wind, 25 and 26 October, 2005. Covering the once-in-a-lifetime scandal of Jayant Patel and the wider story of how political interference and bureaucratic incompetence conspired against the health system was demanding, but never boring. We were witnessing