Patel 'lied to justify removal' FORMER Bundaberg Base Hospital surgeon Jayant Patel has denied lying about the existence of a tumour to justify removing a patient's bowel. Dr Patel is on trial in Brisbane accused of unnecessarily removing Ian Vowles's large bowel and rectum to treat a non-cancerous polyp in 2004. Dr Patel was called as the first witness for the defence yesterday, the trial's ninth day. He told the District Court an examination of Mr Vowles's colon in September 2004 picked up a polyp and a more concerning "flat growth." The Indian-born, US-trained doctor said the findings raised a flag because Mr Vowles was only 57 and had had two colon cancers removed . However, crown prosecutor Peter Davis QC said there was no independent evidence of the existence of a "flat growth." It wasn't mentioned in surgical notes and a pathologist's report on tissue samples taken at the September examination referred to just one polyp, he said. Mr Davis said Dr Patel's barrister had contradicted the surgeon's evidence in an earlier trial of the same case. The barrister had said the "flat growth" was found during the operation, not before it, Mr Davis said. "What you're trying to do . . . is manufacture this notion of a fourth growth, namely the 'flat growth', to try to demonstrate that Mr Vowles was sicker than what he was," Mr Davis said. "I disagree," Dr Patel replied. He said tissue samples from both the polyp and the "flat growth" had been accidentally mixed up in the same bottle. He could not explain why a junior surgeon who took notes during the colon examination did not record a flat growth. Mr Davis also challenged Dr Patel's assertion he gave Mr Vowles the option of doing nothing and checking on the lesions in three months. The doctor said he explained the consequences of the operation, including that Mr Vowles would require a stoma bag and could become impotent. However, Mr Davis said the patient maintained he was given no option and little explanation about why he had to have the major operation. Dr Patel, who said he had not practised since 2005, said Mr Vowles had a genetic susceptibility to colon cancer. He said there was a very high risk that pre-cancerous lesions would turn malignant. "Mr Vowles was a healthy man, but his bowel was not," he said. If he did not have previous colon cancers, I would not have taken it out. Mr Vowles, 66, has ongoing health issues including a colostomy bag, fatigue and impotence. His defence is expected to call two colorectal specialists as its final witnesses on Friday.