Doctor died after surgery for condition he was expert on, coroner rules

He was admitted to the hospital in August 2021 with flu-like symptoms suspected to be linked to a throat infection.

Dr Patel recognised that he had HLH, or Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a condition when immune cells become overactive and attack the body, but medical staff ignored his pleas.

He told his wife “I’m going to die here”, the inquest heard.

The panel recommended an endobronchial ultrasound-guided biopsy (EBUS), where doctors look inside the lungs to diagnose lung disorders, including inflammation.

‘Likely transected or ruptured’

But medics were not informed before the procedure that Dr Patel had also developed a blood clotting disorder, known as disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).

The procedure left Dr Patel with less than a 10 per cent chance of survival after a blood vessel was “likely transected or ruptured”, the inquest was told, and he died in October 2021.

Coroner Zak Golombek ruled that Dr Patel was not allowed to properly consent to the procedure.

He said: “The consenting process was too proximate in time to the procedure starting. This did not allow Professor Patel to compute, digest, and discuss the evolving clinical picture and the procedure itself,” he added.

“Professor Patel was not treated like an ordinary patient. In spite of his undoubted wealth of medical knowledge, he was primarily a husband and a father and was not given the opportunity to consider the procedure itself, and its effects on his clinical course.”