Story Archive

But He Was At Least Very Clean

Doctors at The Alfred hospital in Melbourne, Vic., Australia, were treating a patient for alcoholism. Doctors were “stunned” to find his blood alcohol level was 0.271 percent, even though the 45-year-old man had been in the hospital for three days. They pinpointed the cause: the patient had pulled six 375ml bottles of hand sanitizer out of wall-mounted dispensers and drank them. The sanitizer gel is about 66 percent ethanol, or 132 proof in liquor terms. “We have these bottles all over the wards and they are used constantly,” said Dr. Michael Oldmeadow, adding they were necessary to prevent infection. He suggests that dispensers be bolted to the wall “so it can only be refilled but can’t be removed.” The man was lucky to have survived, he said, but his was not the only case, nor the most severe. (RC/Australian AP) ...He only drinks for his health. Bad health.