Oz alkie gets hammered on hospital hand sanitiser

Doctors at a Melbourne hospital have suggested hospitals Down Under would do well to lock up their hand sanitiser, after one patient got lashed on six bottles of antibacterial brew. According to a concerned letter in the Medical Journal of Australia, a 45-year-old chap with "a history of polysubstance misuse" was being treated …

[GatesFanbois]

A title

I seem to recall a guest at a windsor group hotel doing this a few years back.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8272799.stm

[Anonymous Coward]

I seem to recall russian tourists doing that

Russian tourists drinking alcohol spiked with lavender extract (used to be popular as a general disinfectant and wound cleanse solution on the Balkans).

Buy a 250ml bottle for the today equivalent of 40p from a pharmacy, down it on the spot in front of it.

Drowsy dunno... More like bawdy...

[Graham Marsden]

In WWII

American sailors used to drink "Torpedo Juice" which was a mix of pineapple juice and the alcohol used to power torpedoes.

Various methods were tried to stop them doing this but were often circumvented.

[Conrad Longmore]

Apparently..

Apparently it tastes better with a splash of fruit cordial.

It has happened before too: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297369

[Danny 14]

well

Its gotta taste better than XXXX

[Francis Boyle]

Surely you mean Fosters

One thing Australians can agree on when it comes to beer: Fosters = alcoholic hygiene product.

I'd take a crack at VB (Victoria Bitter) since this is Melbourne but my friends tell me it's really quite good. (I don't drink beer myself - not enough caffeine in it.)

[ScientologyIsACult]

uurgh

I remember VB, it is not a bitter, it's awful, i'd rather suck on Queen Victoria's used underwear.

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Was this him?

See icon.

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't only down under....

This has been happening in UK hospitals for a while, when an alcoholic is submitted to some wards, they remove all the hand rub for this exact reason. Also fastening them down won't help as I've seen people move from ward to ward with a plastic cup, emptying the bottles.

[Cazzo Enorme]

Re: This isn't only down under....

Can confirm this. My brother's significant other is an Accident and Emergency nurse, and she mentioned the problems they have with patients drinking the hand rub ages ago. There again, it does smell remarkably like vodka.

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't ask the nurse for a hand rub.....

You'll get locked up for several hours. Sober!

[ravenviz]

Re: This isn't only down under

It's for their own good, the water in the gel was doing their livers in.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fastening them down?

Fastening down the alcoholic might work.

Damn... we shouldn't joke (but I just did anyway). Very, very nasty disease. Worse, even than addiction to nicotine. And look at the fuss they make over substances that don't do half as much harm.

[NoOnions]

Same issue at Medway Hospital in Blighty

All the dispensers at the hospital entrances have been removed as some of my local Medwayites seem to enjoy the taste (i.e., free alcohol)

Only the wards have them now.

I guess it still tastes better than Fosters though...

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Ahh Fosters.

One of those drinks that actually tastes better second time round.

[JB]

Or

"purely for medicinal purposes"

[GP08]

"It surprised us that he drank this stuff."

The doctor has obviously never tried Foster's then.

[Tim 17]

Not unusual

My hospital has removed all the alcohol gel dispensers in public areas because the cretins off the Infectious Diseases unit kept downing them

[Jim 59]

Newspeak 2.0

"...may be an increasing problem in Australian settings".

ie:

"...may be an increasing problem in Australia"

[Anonymous Coward]

You missed out

You completely failed to use the pun; 'hand shandy'. Shame on you.

[Nigel Brown]

Those about to binge..

We salute you!

[M Gale]

Bitrex

Isn't that stuff denatured? You know, made so foul that even an alkie with a cast iron stomach would have no choice but to throw it all back up again?

Obviously not, in this case.

[Robert Ramsay]

I thought...

that they put emetics into these things precisely for this reason?

[TeeCee]

Aha, I see the problem.

"thickener, dexpanthenol, dl-alpha-tocopheryl acetate, fragrance, pH neutraliser and water".

What's missing here is Elephant laxative. That'll put 'em off.......

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

Simon Travaglia, is that you?

Elephant laxative, just brilliant!

[V 2]

UK Hospital problem

I know of at least one UK hospital where the hand sanitiser mounted at the front entrance had to be removed due to serial abuse by the local tipplers...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't they mean

"Accordingly, they suggest removable bottles of hand hooch should be replaced with "non-removable, self-contained dispensers""

Otherwise known as drinking fountains.

[Richard Rae]

well....

He is clean inside and out now....

[Anonymous Coward]

Surprising

I'm surprised the stuff isn't laced with a healthy dose of Bitrex to make it completely impossible to drink. Most household chemicals are made deliberately bitter to prevent them being drunk by children or alcoholics.

[frank ly]

Use vile tasting additives

Such as 'bittrex', as painted on nails to stop people biting them.

Note: They have this in my local surgery waiting room. I'll give it a try next time I'm in there, just to see what it's like.

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't seem to understand the term Alcoholism

When you're an alcoholic you've basically got to have alcohol otherwise you go mental and go into a fit/seizure so anything will do. Having said that most Alkies go for the mouthwash before the hand sanitizer and aftershave. Aftershave is usually the last on the list only because it comes out in tiny drops.

[BugsMan]

Nothing new here - move on

As previously noted this is a common problem.

However, all alcohols are anti-microbial. Methanol and isopropyl alcohol work just as well and have the added advantages of being fatal in lower amounts than ethanol. Bugs and burdens upon society removed at a stroke.

On a more serious note, there are many better anti-microbials than alcohol available. The problem is that nobody - esp. the NHS - will go against the WHO recommendations, that are decades out of date, for fear of being sued.

[Anonymous Coward]

Methanol - not a good idea

It's a neurotoxin and easily absorbed through the skin, so it would probably start blinding and killing the hospital staff - this is generally not thought to be a good thing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Denatonium Benzoate

or bitrex will stop this at a stroke.....

[Stoneshop]

Well

maybe detonatium benzoate would do a better job (if, admittedly, somewhat messy)

[PTR]

Drink Drive Limit

Why do all journos compare blood levels of drunken people to an arbitraty level that is deemed to be safe.

Its not like there is a level that is "A bit drunk", "very pissed" and then "wankered". Yet they use "perfectly ok to drive a car" as the guideline.

Makes no sense whatsoever.

[Bassey]

Re: Bitrex

As any dedicated nail biter will confirm, it doesn't take long to get used to the taste of bitrex - unfortnately for my nails. And for a physical addiction/illness like alcoholism it would be a totally ineffective detterent.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Bitrex

True, I've always thought Bitrex and Campari tasted exactly the same so I doubt it would put of a desperate alcoholic.

Slap a bit of orange juice in it and it'd just be an Aqium Gel Sunrise :)

[BugsMan]

@cornz 1

Thanks for the knowledge - I know of someone on whom to test this out!

[Anonymous Coward]

(untitled)

He may want to consider a course of probiotics now though.

I recommend one per brew.

[Captain Scarlet]

Barney from the Simpsons

He would be an expert at getting lashed on these

****BURP****

[Anonymous Coward]

Look on the positive side

He isn't going to get MRSA!!

[Cihatari]

Not just hospitals either

I recall a similar story about this sort of thing going on in one or two prisons as well. Alcohol-based hand-gel in the visitors centre somehow mysteriously ending up in the main establishment.

Is Genial Harry Grout aware of this and alive to the possible profit-related ventures therein?

[John Sturdy]

Removed from Irish prisons

Irish prisons removed their hand gel dispensers, as the inmates were drinking from them.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not just hand sanitizer...

...but also automotive fuel.

Yes, 30 years ago automotive ethanol (in Brasil, mind you) had no additives. You guessed it, 98% spirits at 30p per liter (or try to think something really cheap). Cheaper than water back then. For something related to human addiction. Sold 10 gallons at a time.

People soon caught up. So the gas stations and oil companies.

There was even a joke (more like a TV gag) about a man inserting some sugar, ice cubes and lemons in a car tank...

[Joe User]

Don't drink the hand sanitizer

Just put a shot of ipecac in the bottle. They might swallow the contents, but it won't stay down for long.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not effective on everyone

As a kid, I used to *like* the taste of syrup of ipecac. Never threw up from it, and I could drink most of a bottle without a problem.

Fortunately, we didn't have anyone in my parents workplace who needed any. (as I never left any after I'd found it. :>) (kids...!)

[Anonymous Coward]

Me too!

I even liked the stuff they put on my nails to stop me biting them.

[Monkey Bob]

So to round things up...

So far we have 3 comments for Fosters being worse & 2 comments for bitrex. But two comments defending bitrex to some extent.

Conclusion: Mine's a pint. Of Bitrex.

[Captain TickTock]

White Lady..

Used to be the name given to methylated spirits, kept in the fridge in outback petrol stations...

You can put what you like in it, but a determined alcoholic will drink it anyway, and if he can't drink because he has throat cancer...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/14/darwin_awards_2007/

[Chris Holt]

More effective that rehab...

at least they *all* come out clean...

My coat...the one with empty brown paper bags in the pocket

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine The Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting!!

My name is Ryan, and I have been clean for 2 months now!!

Mine's the one with the schnapps-flavored hand sanitizer in the pocket....

[Framitz]

Where has the Doc been?

It's no surprise at all that an alcoholic would drink this stuff.

It's probably no worse than squeezing the alcohol out of Sterno or Canned Heat.

And probably not much worse than chugging mouthwash by the quart.

The Doctor seems terribly naive. Strike that, STUPID.

[Framitz]

There is non-alcoholic hand sanitizer -but it sucks-

Were I work they purchased a case of hand sanitizer for kids, it contained no alcohol.

Nobody would use the kid stuff though because it contains no alcohol and does not dry unless you use a towel.

That crap mysteriously disappeared and we are using the regular alcohol based stuff again, which dries very quickly.

[Mookster]

Also in Daycare

The daycares in Helsinki also have this sort of stuff. We caught our 3-year old sucking on a bottle of gel