Mr Prafulla Chandra Pal  To our Wonderful Father Mr Prafulla Chandra Pal BSc (hons) MBBS, DTM&H, FRCS. Died at Papworth NHS Trust following a cardiac arrest on the 11.12.05 at 14.20 hours.

Our father was a wonderful consultant surgeon who always fought for his patients. He had the reputation of operating on dying patients and saving them. He worked in the NHS from the year 1959-1982 with a brief period with the Overseas Development Service in Africa. He was a big man with a big personality who always believed that the role of the doctor was to save patients. During the 70’s he worked for Good Hope Hospital NHS trust as a surgeon. He was well respected by his patients and colleagues.

He developed a life threatening condition called aortic stenosis in 2005. A life saving heart operation was refused by the Midlands for most of 2005. He was taken into Good Hope Hospital acutely short of breath, four weeks ago. He contracted MRSA at Coronary Care Unit Good Hope Hospital prior to his transfer to the National Heart Centre in Papworth. He was offered a life saving operation fairly late but developed an infection. His life saving operation was cancelled on the 10.12.05 due to severe infection with MRSA. He subsequently had a cardiac arrest and passed away the day after.

He leaves behind his beloved wife Anita, his daughters Dr CR Pal, Dr BR Pal, and Dr R Pal and his dog Benji.

As doctors we worked extremely hard to watch over our father’s treatment and care, antibiotics were consistently refused during the last week until the day before his death. We have no doubts that the MRSA contributed to his death.

Our grief has been blighted by the inadequate treatment meted out on our father. We hope this case serves as an example to everyone including medical professionals. MRSA can cause the death of anyone including doctors. It is not until a loved one dies does one realise the true extent of this problem.

Our father was one in a million.

On his last day he said the following “death was a better option to the inadequate treatment he had been offered by the NHS he had once worked for.

We will all miss him dearly.

DR Rita Pal

(Youngest daughter to Mr PC Pal)