Jashbhai Patel was a general surgeon who practised in India, the UK and the USA. He was born on 30 November 1927 in Dharmpuri in the Baroda District of Gujarat State, the second son of a farmer, Nathabhai Ukabhai Patel and his wife Chanchalben. After initially attending local schools he won a scholarship to study at the Baroda Science College and then to attend B J Medical College in Ahmadabad to study medicine from 1949 to 1953. His first appointments were in India, partly in private practice and then he moved to the UK in 1957 to become house officer in general surgery to the Stockton and Thornaby Hospital. Various short term locum posts followed in the North of England, London and the Midlands before he moved to New York in 1969 to work at the New York Infirmary. Finally he settled in Indiana. In 1967 he married Dashreath Mathur, an artist, and they had a son and daughter. He was interested in playing indoor games and was fond of music. He died in 1992, aged 64 or 65 years.