Have Another
(August
1999, Australia)
Drinking
oneself to death need not be a long lingering process. Allan, a 33-year-old
computer technician, showed his competitive spirit by dying of competitive
spirits.
A
Sydney, Australia hotel bar held a drinking competition, known as Feral Friday,
with a 100-minute time limit and a sliding point scale ranging from 1 point for
beer to 8 points for hard liquor.
Allan
stood and cheered his winning total of 236 (winners never quit!), which had also
netted him the literally staggering blood alcohol level of 0.353, 7 times
greater than Australia's legal driving limit of 0.05%.
After
several trips to the usual temple of over-indulgence, the bathroom, Allan was
helped back to his workplace to sleep it off, a condition that became permanent.
A
forensic haematologist estimated that after downing 34 beers, 4 bourbons, and 17
shots of tequila within 1 hour and 40 minutes, his blood alcohol level would
have been 0.41 to 0.43, but Allan had vomited several times after the drinking
stopped. The cost paid by Allan was much higher than that of the hotel, which
was fined the equivalent of US$13,100 for not intervening.
He
didn't require any further embalming.