Singer KK's death: Five mistakes that should have been avoided

Popular Bollywood playback singer KK aka Krishnakumar Kunnath died of a heart attack on May 31, 2022, just shortly after giving a live performance at Kolkata. He was 53 years old. KK reportedly felt unwell while performing at a concert at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata. After the show, he returned to his hotel, where he complained of uneasiness. He was rushed to Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) at around 10:30 pm, where he was declared dead.

Preliminary findings of the post-mortem conducted on KK indicated that he died due to a cardiac arrest. This points to the fact that KK was not well and was having some heart-related issues. Police have recovered ten medicines from KK's room. These include medicines and syrups to reduce acidity, Vitamin C, liver medicines, some Ayurvedic medicines and some homoeopathic medicines.

According to sources, a layer of fat has been found around KK's heart and the heart valves are found to be contracted. That means there would have been a lot of pressure on his heart. On May 31 itself, KK's body gave him many warning signals, which were possibly ignored. KK’s sudden and untimely demise shows that we should not ignore those warning signs.

According to KK's manager, on the morning of May 31, the singer told him that he was feeling exhausted - this was possibly the first signal that was ignored.

According to sources, KK called up his wife to inform her that he was experiencing pain in his left shoulder and arm - a sign of a heart attack - but this too was ignored by the singer.

KK was on the stage at the Nazrul Mancha for almost two hours - during the performance KK was seen wiping sweat and going out for small breaks - This signal was also ignored possibly on the pretext that the hall was very crowded and AC was not working properly.

The biggest mistake which cost the singer’s life – his condition turned so bad that KK left the concert hall around 8.40 PM. However, instead of going to the hospital, he went to his hotel. This initial time is very crucial in cases of cardiac arrest and a lot depends on how the patient was handled. 

There was a big private hospital just at a distance of 5 minutes from the concert hall and KK’s hotel was nearly 15 minutes away. If KK had gone straight to the hospital, he might have survived. Instead, he went to his hotel.  After reaching the hotel, KK fell down while sitting on the sofa and hurt himself. He was still alive at that time – about 9.15 PM. He was rushed to the hospital as his condition declined, but in the process, nearly an hour was wasted. He reached the CMRI Hospital in Kolkata around 10:15 pm – he was declared brought dead by then.

In KK’s case, nearly one-and-a-half-hour was wasted, which according to the doctors is called the Golden Hour because the sooner a patient reaches the hospital, the chances of his survivals increases.