Amy Winehouse’s final words to her doctor have resurfaced as fans mark what would have been her 43rd birthday.
The ‘Back to Black’ singer, 27, was found dead in her Camden, London home on July 23, 2011, with three empty vodka bottles nearby. Her blood alcohol level reached 416mg per 100ml, well above the 350mg threshold considered fatal. She had managed weeks of sobriety before relapsing just three days earlier.
Dr. Christina Romete, Winehouse’s physician, visited the singer the night before her death and later testified about their conversation at an inquest held at Pancras Coroner’s Court in London. During that visit, Winehouse admitted she had begun drinking again.
“I don’t want to die,” Winehouse told Dr. Romete, according to the physician’s testimony at the inquest.
Dr. Romete had warned Winehouse about the severity of her condition given the relapse. The doctor described Winehouse’s demeanor that evening as “calm but guilty.” Though the singer was tipsy, she remained capable of holding a conversation. When asked about plans to stop drinking again, Winehouse said she did not know.
Dr. Romete continued: “She was one of the most intelligent young women I’ve ever met. She was very determined to do everything her way, including her therapy. She had very strict views on that.”
The physician had repeatedly advised Winehouse about alcohol’s dangers. “The advice I had given to Amy over a long period of time was verbal and in written form about all the effects alcohol can have on the system, including respiratory depression and death, heart problems, fertility problems and liver problems,” Dr. Romete testified.
Winehouse had been prescribed Librium to manage alcohol withdrawal symptoms but was reluctant to take it or accept other mental health support, concerned it might affect her creativity.
Assistant deputy coroner Suzanne Greenaway ruled the cause as accidental alcohol poisoning, stating Winehouse had “consumed sufficient alcohol and the unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels was her sudden and unexpected death.”
The initial 2011 inquest was later overturned. A second inquest in 2013 was ordered after an investigation determined Greenaway lacked the proper qualifications for her position.
Winehouse’s struggles with substance abuse were public throughout her career, though she had sought treatment multiple times. Her distinctive voice and confessional songwriting on albums like ‘Back to Black’ made her one of the most celebrated British artists of her generation before her death at age 27 joined her to the so-called “27 Club” of musicians who died at that age.
