A woman who has Dr Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann to thank for her husband’s health has told Tom Elliott of a “very warm, caring man”.

Dr Pritzwald-Stegmann suffered a blow to the head in the foyer of Box Hill Hospital on the evening May 30, and his family had to make the heart-breaking decision to turn off his life-support last night.

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“That man was not only a great surgeon, but a most wonderful charming man who cared very much,” Norma told 3AW.

“In fact, by the time it was all over and done with, he’d become more like a family member.

“He used to ring me when (her husband) Don had a bit of a setback when he came home.

“Patrick had given me his mobile number.”

“(He was the most) the most caring man I’ve ever met … in the medical trade.