Sydney, Jan 11 : Lawyers in the case of Indian-origin surgeon Dr. Jayant Patel, accused of the man slaughter of three patients in Australia, are in `a race against time to tie up all legal loose ends' before his trial next month.

The surgeon did not appear in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Friday for a review of the case, in which he is charged with the manslaughter.

The crown handed up its new particulars of the case to Justice George Fryberg, who had last month deemed its initial submission `incomplete and embarrassing', the Herald Sun reports.

Patel's defence requested the weekend to prepare any application arising from the submission but Justice Fryberg ordered it be emailed by 5 pm on Saturday.

He said this would allow time for all parties to prepare for a hearing on Tuesday.

According to the report, Justice Fryberg also slammed the crown''s latest submission, saying the grammar was `atrocious' and some paragraphs were `incomprehensible'.

Patel is accused of the manslaughter of Mervyn Morris, 75, who died in June 2003, three weeks after Patel performed an operation on him.

He is also expected to face trial separately for the manslaughters of 77-year-old Gerry Kemps and 46-year-old James Phillips, and the grievous bodily harm of 62-year-old Ian Rodney Vowles, the report added. (ANI)