Aus court set to rule on 'Dr Death' Jayant Patel's plea

An Australian high court will announce its ruling on Friday on the appeal of Indian-origin surgeon Jayant Patel, who was sentenced to seven years in jail in 2010 on manslaughter charges for killing three patients and causing permanent harm to another.

"The high court is set to hand down its decision on the former surgeon's appeal against his manslaughter convictions at midday on Friday," Australia's AAP news agency reported on Tuesday.

Patel, dubbed as 'Dr Death' for botching up a string of operations, was sentenced to imprisonment in July 2010 after a Brisbane Supreme Court jury found him guilty of the manslaughter of his three patients -- 77-year-old Gerry Kemps, 46-year-old James Phillips and 75-year-old Mervyn Morris.

Patel, 62, was also found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to Ian Rodney Vowles, while serving as a surgeon at the Bundaberg Base Hospitalin in Queensland between 2003-2005.

During a hearing in Brisbane in June this year, Patel's legal team argued the convictions should be quashed because a multitude of problems during the trial had led to a miscarriage of justice.