Member Article

Man saved by vodka injection

Despite the fact that too much alcohol is bad for you, a patient has been deliberately pumped full of vodka at a hospital in Australia. The man had consumed large quantities of a poisonous substance and needed pure alcohol to flush it out.

However, when the hospital’s supplies of ethanol, which is 100% alcohol, ran out, medics from Mackay Base Hospital in Queensland decided vodka was the next best thing. The man was then intravenously fed three standard measures of vodka an hour for three days.

The man is believed to have taken ethylene glycol - a substance found in antifreeze - in an attempted suicide. Two months on, he has now made a successful recovery. Despite being drip-fed so much vodka, he had no sign of a hangover.

Dr Todd Fraser explained: “Fortunately for him he was in a medically-induced coma for a good portion of that time. By the time he woke up I think his hangover would have well and truly gone.

“The hospital’s administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .