Australian doctors use vodka drip to save tourist

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

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...

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