Read alcohol issues explored in depth

Life-or-death decisions depend on doctors thinking on their feet. Australian doctors, it appears, are also trained to think with their drink.

Doctors in a city 600 miles north of Brisbane have saved the life of an Italian tourist by administering rum, vodka and whisky for three days through a tube into his stomach.

The 24-year-old man from Milan, whose name has not been released, was brought to Mackay Base Hospital unconscious and in a serious condition after swallowing large quantities of ethylene glycol, a poisonous substance found in antifreeze.

The recommended treatment is purified pharmaceutical-grade alcohol, which acts as an antidote. But when hospital stores of alcohol ampoules ran out after 20 minutes and with off-licences - known as bottle shops - closed for the night, Todd Fraser, an intensive care specialist, had to be resourceful. The closest medical cupboard that he could think of was his own drinks cabinet at home.

Dr Fraser said: “He managed to go through three bottles of my finest before we ran out of that, but that got us through until the bottle shop opened.

“We were feeding him three standard drinks an hour for three days via a nasogastric tube. We were very worried he might not survive. He was extremely unwell. Ethylene glycol poisoning can cause renal failure.”

The unconventional treatment proved effective. The man was discharged from hospital 20 days after being admitted and has since flown home to Italy.

The patient made an excellent recovery and, pleasingly for Dr Fraser, hospital administrators later proved very understanding about the booze bill.

Despite the huge amount of alcohol that was pumped into the patient’s stomach he did not complain of a hangover.

“He was actually in a medically induced coma . . . for three or four days after the alcohol was stopped,” Dr Fraser said. “By the time that he was starting to wake up I think the alcohol would have well and truly gone.”

Mackay doctors plan to write about the case for submission to a medical journal. Dr Fraser, though, says that the case is not unique.

“I was made aware during all of this that a vet has used alcohol down a nasogastric tube to treat poisoning in a dog in Australia just recently,” he said.

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