Texas Doctor Waives Extradition and Agrees to Return to England

On Friday, a Texas doctor agreed to be returned to England, the country in which she is alleged to have committed manslaughter in a patient's death over 10 years ago.^[1]

Dr. Priya Ramnath waived extradition at a court hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Earl S. Hines on Friday, February 15th. According to U.S. Attorney John L. Ratcliffe, she was ordered to surrender to U.S. Marshals on Feb. 22nd.^[2]

Ramnath is accused of providing a lethal dose of adrenaline to a patient in intensive care in 1998 at the U.K. hospital where she worked. By the time she was charged with manslaughter in 2003 she had already been living and practicing medicine in the U.S.^[3]

Ramnath was placed on house arrest in January following her release from Angelina County Jail. Her release was granted pending her extradition hearing. At that time she turned over her passport to the court.^[4]

Ramnath, a native of India, obtained her state medical license in 2004. According to authorities, she lived in McAllen, Texas prior to working at a Lufkin hospital.^[5]

In waiving extradition, Ramnath invoked Article 17 of the Extradition Act of 2003 between the United States and the United Kingdom; an act that was ratified last year.^[6] Article 17 permits “surrender as expeditiously as possible and without further proceedings if the person sought waives extradition and agrees to be surrendered to the Requesting State.”^[7]

Federal criminal defense attorney, Douglas McNabb has written extensively on the topic of International Extradition. Some of his work on the subject may be found here.

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[1] The Associated Press, Texas Doctor Returing to UKL to Face Charge in Patient Death, Fort Worth Star Telegram (available at http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/477017.html).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Extradition Act 2003 c. 41 s. 151.
[7] Id.