One of the best doctors in the UK died on an understaffed Manchester hospital ward after falling sick with a condition he was an expert in treating, an inquest has heard.
Professor Amit Patel was among the ‘best doctors in the UK’, the first person in the country to be qualified in stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy, and intensive care medicine. He was also a beloved husband and father-of-two.
“He looked liked a corpse, 70 per cent of his blood was in his lungs, he was freezing cold and he looked like he was dead," his heartbroken wife told an inquest at Manchester Coroners Court. "I told my daughters, ‘daddy is dead’ – I didn’t have much hope he would be able to come out of that.”
Professor Patel's condition was being investigated by doctors at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, and across the country. But, he was in the unimaginable position of being a nationally recognised expert in the illness. During his career, he had formed ‘national guidance’ on the illness and sat on the national multi-disciplinary panel to which the most serious cases, including his own, were referred.
The court heard how he was experiencing the symptoms of hemophagocytic lymph histiocytosis (HLH) – a rare and life-threatening immune disorder where the body reacts inappropriately to a 'trigger’, such as an infection or cancer, and leads to inflammation. Patients can be predisposed to HLH by Still’s disease, another rare autoimmune condition also causing inflammation, which Professor Patel was suspected to have had.
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