Terrifying ordeal set Thomas on Patel’s tail

A shooting at his Brisbane home almost caused The Australian’s National Chief Correspondent to quit journalism. But a ‘low risk’ project turned out to be a lucky break.

Hedley Thomas in Bundaberg. Picture: Ryan Osland / The Australian

A shooting at the Brisbane home of Hedley Thomas unexpectedly set him on the path to investigating the deadly negligence of Dr Jayant Patel at Bundaberg Base Hospital.

The Australian’s National Chief Correspondent was an investigative reporter at The Courier-Mail 2002 when four bullets were fired at his home on Brisbane’s semi-rural outskirts.

Hedley Thomas and his wife, Ruth Mathewson, in the location of the 2002 shooting. A bullet hole can be seen in the blind behind them. Picture: Glenn Barnes

The ammunition passed just above the heads of Thomas and his wife, Ruth, in the room where they slept, and came dangerously close to their then-infant son.

The incident is explored in a new episode of The Australian’s new investigative podcast series Sick to Death, which is based on Thomas’ best-selling book of the same name.

Thomas seriously considered quitting journalism following the shooting, but, after a period of leave, he returned to the The Courier-Mail’s newsroom, where he was assigned to an investigation into the Queensland Health system’s reliance on overseas trained doctors.

His reporting would later reveal the US-trained Patel fraudulently obtained registration to practise surgery in the state in 2003, while a 2005 Commission of Inquiry later found more than a dozen people died as a result of his negligence.

Do you know more? Contact Hedley Thomas and the team at [e-mail]

Subscribers hear new episodes of Sick to Death first. Listen to Episode 4 at sicktodeathpodcast.com or in The Australian’s app, or search for “Sick to Death” on Apple Podcasts to connect your subscription.