A man who fatally punched a surgeon at a Melbourne hospital has been found guilty of manslaughter after a four-week trial. Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann, 41, suffered head injuries when struck by 24-year-old Joseph Esmaili at Box Hill Hospital in May 2017. His life support was turned off four weeks later. A Supreme Court jury returned a guilty verdict on Wednesday after 2½ days of deliberations. Esmaili had pleaded not guilty. The pair had a confrontation in the foyer of the hospital on the night Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann was struck, allegedly after the doctor asked Esmaili and a group of his friends not to smoke in a non-smoking area outside, the court was told. Esmaili’s friend Corey Rogers said one of the group told the doctor to “f— off” and Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann went inside to get security, following Esmaili.
