SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian doctors revealed Wednesday that they drip-fed an Italian tourist a steady dose of vodka over three days to save his life after he poisoned himself.
The 24-year-old man was taken to a north Queensland hospital two months ago after he swallowed a large amount of a potentially-fatal substance found in antifreeze in an apparent suicide attempt.
Doctors at Mackay Base Hospital decided the best method of saving the unconscious man's life was to reverse the effect of the poison, ethylene glycol, by giving him pharmaceutical-grade alcohol.
Dr Pascal Gelperowicz said that once the hospital's alcohol supplies ran out doctors sent out for a case of vodka and the unusual drip was set up.
"We quickly used all the available vials of 100 percent alcohol and decided the next best way to get alcohol into the man's system was by feeding him spirits through a nasal-gastric tube," Gelperowicz said.
His colleague Dr Todd Fraser said the patient was given about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit.
"Fortunately for him, he was in a medically induced coma for a good portion of that," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"By the time he woke up, I think his hangover would have well and truly gone."
Although unusual, the treatment was approved by hospital officials.
"The hospital's administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka," Fraser said.
The patient regained full health and was discharged from hospital after 20 days.
Posted by glassman on :
that's pretty amazing..
ethylene glycol is what's in anti-freeze..
it was considered certain death until recently.. as little as two tablespoons can kill a full grown human..
Posted by bdgee on :
I have to be impressed with the ability of these guys to improvise when it was necessary. My hat's off to them and I bet the guy that is alive because of it thinks the same.
Of course, they live in a land not so dominated by attorneys willing to stretch the validity of the legal system by filing absurd and asinine suits. Something needs to be done to force the law schools to improve the moral responsibility and ethics of that profession.
(One problem is, though {and probably the biggest} , who decides what is a worthy or important suit of law. To the present we have left that to the attorneys and they have absolutely no reason to provide guidance or definition. Politicians only consider the problem in order to tweak the vote from the fringe elements of society.)
Posted by IWISHIHAD on :
We know many of you party animals have been doing this procedure for years(or something similiar) just not under doctors orders. Posted by bdgee on :
Just who are you pointing at, IWIH, with that fakey looking over sized hearing aid device and it's plastic tube that stretches from behind an ear to your mustach??
Posted by IWISHIHAD on :
No one in particular, just those party animals you see on cable that are using a funnel or other ways to pour the liquor in their body. They must have a horrible headache the next day.
I am to old for that now it would probably take me to weeks or longer to get over a hangover. I have been pretty lucky, never done any stupid things in my lifetime. Posted by glassman on :
never??? i don't believe you...
maybe i should introduce you to my buddy Jagermeister...
Posted by bdgee on :
God!
What a boring life you've had, IWIH.
I'll pray for you.
Posted by Upside on :
Is that why your user name is IWISHIHAD? As in IWISHIHAD done at least a few stupid things in my life?
Posted by T e x on :
Up cracks me UP!
Posted by bdgee on :
Once, in class, a student asked me if there was some mistake I had made in life that I would change. I thought for a minute and responded that, "No, given the chance, I'd make them a second time. First of all they were mostly exciting and fun. Secondly, but more correctly and importantly, I thought, at the time on the basis of things I knew and understood, I was making a correct decision in each case."
Now, though, with the wisdom from age and experience behind me, I'd shoot for at least three times on the most of fun ones and delve into different choices for some that weren't mistakes. Hell, man, you don't get but one shot at things.
Posted by T e x on :
quote:by giving him pharmaceutical-grade alcohol.
what I wanna know...what's the heck's pharma-grade alcohol?
Posted by bdgee on :
It ain't ain't denatured and is the azeotrope of 95% ethyl alcohol and 5% water with a specified kind and maximum amount of impurities in PPM. The purest varieties (over 95%) must be chemically manufactured as opposed to being distillation products and are horribly expensive and unnecessary for medical use.
Posted by glassman on :
and they taste like fire.
over 95% has to be passed over benzene as a vapor or gas to draw out the last 5% of water since benzene has a higher affinity for water than alcohol does.
Posted by bdgee on :
No, glass, that's white lightning that taste like fire.
95% ethyl alchahol, "everclear" in the liquor srore, has a sort of sweet taste and smell and isn't nearly so course as bad bourbon or scotch.
Yet, some of the best sippin stuff I ever had was made out in the woods about ten miles west of Tuscaloosa Alabama in the swamp by a guy that was illiterate. He was an artist. 'Twas heavenly stuff, I swear.
Posted by T e x on :
so, the hospital or the swamps?
Posted by glassman on :
last time i tried to buy everclear? i had to settle for Bacardi 151...
Posted by bdgee on :
"I don't always drink beer, but when I do I prefer" cold beer of whatever brand.
I don't care for scotch and I choose Spanish brandies over French. For sippin stuff, I'd go with Ron Barreleto "three star" rum before any brandy...it fares well in comparison with the "dew" I got from the swamp.
Most often, if and when I have a hard drink, I want bourbon, neat, and room temperature tap water on the side.
(And maybe a shanky brunette on t'other side, of course.)
Posted by IWISHIHAD on :
Some of you guy's need to come clean. I know i have probably seen some of you on that educational show Jerry Springer. My tv changer got stuck on that channel a couple of times when he did his shows in Mexico and Texas, you know the ones i am talking about. No not the X rated ones.
I heard rumors when i was younger about that Bacardi stuff. Doesn't that stuff eat at your gut?
O well it has to beat that Ripple. Nothing but the best when your under age.
Posted by bdgee on :
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i don't believe you...![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)