The life of an Italian man visiting Australia was saved two months ago by a doctor who set up bottles of rum, vodka and whiskey on a drip-feed to counteract the effects of antifreeze the man had drunk.
The recommended treatment for ingestion of ethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical found in antifreeze, is pure pharmaceutical grade alcohol.
But when the 24-year-old man from Milan arrived unconscious to a hospital in a small Australian town 600 miles north of Brisbane, doctors noticed the hospital had only enough alcohol for 20 minutes of drip-feed — and all the shops were closed.
Dr. Todd Fraser, who was relaxing at home, heard his phone ring. Minutes later he had grabbed bottles of liquor from his own drinks cabinet and was on his way to the hospital. The Italian received the equivalent of three drinks an hour through a tube in his nose.
Twenty days later he flew home after making an excellent recovery.
He reported feeling no hangover.
- Sydney Morning Herald: Doc raided cache for liquor drip
- The Times: How vodka on drip-feed saved a life
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