A 44-year-old Birmingham dad went into cardiac arrest with the man declared clinically dead for 45c minutes before the doctors’ trialled a new technique in a last-ditch attempt to save his life
For almost an hour a dad-of-three was clinically dead with the 44-year-old saying he had “no clue” where he went before coming to with an entirely new perspective on life.
Sarbjit Singh went into cardiac arrest in hospital in 2020 after contracting coronavirus. He was resuscitated by doctors using two defibrillators and was clinically dead for 45 minutes.
Sarbjit said the most disturbing part of his near-death experience was realising his children had been left without their dad – even for a short period.
“I have no clue where I was,” Sarbjit told the BBC. “All I know is for 45 minutes, my children didn’t have a dad. That’s a scary, scary thought.”
Since his shock survival, he has felt he has a new lease of life, and even ran an endurance race despite being told he may never walk again. The health and wellbeing officer said: “Every moment for me is heightened, life is just amazing for me.
“I’ve seen just how vulnerable the human body is, but in my own self I’ve also seen how resilient, stoic and superhuman it can be. The reason my life’s changed is I feel more empowered now than I ever have. I’ve got such appreciation for breath and for life and a heartbeat.”
His grateful family said it was a miracle he survived and could celebrate his 40th birthday, as well as the birth of his third child.
In the early hours of November 26, 2020 Sarbjit began having chest pains when his wife, Raj Kaur, five months pregnant, called for an ambulance. Horrendously, Sarbjit went into cardiac arrest four times.
Clinical death is defined as when a person stops breathing and their heart stops pumping blood to vital organs. Birmingham City Hospital said the “last resort” treatment was down to the initiative of the doctors present.
The medics present worked for the full 45 minutes to try and revive him but failed. They were about to call his death when cardiologist Dr Arijit Ghosh suggested using an extreme new technique he had read about a few weeks previously called the double sequential external defibrillation.
This means using two defibrillators one on the patient’s front and one on the back and shocking in quick succession at maximum dose.
“I just couldn’t believe what he’s done for me,” the Great Barr patient said of his doctor. Sarbjit met his doctor again who said it was the dad’s “mental strength which took [him] through this tough journey”.
Sarbjit was very unwell for a while and was rushed into surgery to remove a blood clot and was placed in an induced coma after suffering significant organ damage.
However, his wife was over the moon, after having to previously discuss performing his last rites. Now, in a second miracle Sabjit is walking again after being told he may be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
He said: “I looked at my legs and I went, ‘you’re going to walk towards your kids’ – that was a driving force for me. In 2023, he trained for the Wolf Run – an endurance race complete with obstacles in Warwickshire.
A spokesperson for City Hospital said the treatment had been used “as a last resort in this case to save a life”.
“We are pleased that Sarb has recovered following his cardiac arrest in November 2020 and continue to wish him well,” said Dr Mark Anderson, chief medical officer at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals.
“It is a tribute to the efforts of our resuscitation team as they were able to maintain oxygen to his brain whilst extended efforts to restart his heart were ongoing.”
