A beloved veteran cardiac surgeon and former PN MP had attempted to stop a heart attack that may have led to his death.

ECG leads were discovered connected to Albert Fenech’s chest when his lifeless body was found on 28 December, 2021, his family have revealed in a new interview with Times of Malta.

They believe Fenech noticed he was experiencing a heart attack, whereupon he attempted to prevent it using the ECG leads. 

“It is tragic and ironic that he saved so many lives of people who were in that same situation but wasn’t able to save himself when it happened to him,” his older sister Priscilla said to TOM.

His loved ones recounted the final evening before his death.

Fenech had told his partner Simone Micallef that he had a cold and was feeling fatigued.

“That night he told me he might sleep in the following morning. So, when he didn’t call that the morning, I thought he was still asleep,” Micallef said. “When I had still not heard from him at 10am, I really began to worry. I called his phone for half an hour and then I called Priscilla, his sister.”

His sister, who lived next door, immediately had a bad feeling.

“At that moment my heart skipped a beat and I immediately knew something had happened to Albert,” she said.

“I had spoken to him the day before. I knew he had a cold and I offered to cook him some chicken soup, because they say it’s good for colds. But he refused, saying he had a lot of food in the fridge.

“Later that day, I felt something bad might happen to him. And I was right, because that was my last conversation with him. And when the next morning I learnt he wasn’t answering his phone I thought, ‘oh, here it goes’.”