Professor Robert Winston asked if 'life was worth continuing' after wife's death
Professor Robert Winston told how the death of his wife left him wondering if 'life is worth continuing'.
The scientist opened up about the last moments with his wife Lira when 999 crew tried to save her life.
She suffered a cardiac arrest back in December 2021, and he was frantically talking to an operator while urging them to send an ambulance.
Speaking on the Crisis What Crisis? podcast with host Andy Coulson, the 82-year-old explained how his wife died in his arms.
He said: "I tried to say, 'Look, her breathing has changed, she has Cheynes-Stokes breathing,' I said. I didn’t say I was a doctor.
"The guy on the other said, 'Count the number of breaths she’s having.' I said, 'There isn’t time for me to do that. I need the ambulance emergency.'
Lord Winston's wife died in December 2021 (Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)
She was in his arms while he tried to talk to 999 operators (Birmingham Mail)"He said, 'What’s the interval of seconds between each breath?' I said, 'Look, this is not important. She is breathing irregularly. It is needed now.' This conversation went on and it seemed to go on for hours."
Lord Winston went on to explain that, by the time the ambulance arrived, "it was too late, but it probably would have been anyway".
"There was a lot of COVID going around and it took I think about 18 minutes which was just a bit too long, really," the professor continued.
"So when the paramedics came, they were over-anxious and they actually kept going for far too long."
Lord Winston, Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London, said the paramedics weren't 'prepared to give up' and 'didn't want to give up'.
He said the paramedics 'didn't want to give up' on her (Jon Corken/Grimsby Live)"Eventually I had to tell them, 'Look, you've done all you could possibly do. You've put up a drip, you've cardioverted her, it's not working, and I totally accept that she's dead'," he said.
"And you know, I think at that time, there are so many emotions you go through. You think it’s your fault."
Lord Winston's grief 'wasn't very obvious at the time' and he sometimes wondered if his life 'was worth continuing.'
"You start wondering if your own life is worth continuing. It's obvious that you think about that," he added.
"But what do you learn? I don't know. I think people learn different things and people react to grief very differently."
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