AIBU about 3 vodka lemonades....

[TheWinterOfOurDiscountTents]

Just reading about a sad story of a mother dying of alcohol poisoning reported in several places.

They all say that she had 3 vodka lemonades and was not a heavy drinker but was used to that amount of alcohol. 380mg/100ml is not by any stretch 3 vodka lemonades, unless you are using a pint glass and have very little lemonade in it, and if you are used to that amount of alcohol then you are by definition a heavy drinker

Compare to this article for example where a musician had the same level of alcohol but was described as ^a massive amount of alcohol and enough to send most people into a coma. The tests showed he was a heavy drinker and had been abusing alcohol over a period of time. His body just seems to have given up on him that night with all the booze he consumed

AIBU to think that this is an odd way to report this sad event, and also irresponsible?

Also AIBU to be really surprised at how high the drink driving limit is in th UK, the highest in Europe?

[Fighterofthenightman]

A female person I know had 148mg of alcohol in her blood after drinking 8 cans of lager so more than double that cannot possibly be after 3 vodkas unless they were enormous.

[StealthPolarBear]

" Scott told the inquest that Ms Hopley had poured the drinks the night before and while she wasn’t a heavy drinker, may have been used to that level of alcohol."
That bit makes no sense to me

[BertieBotts]

380mg/100ml is a measure of how much alcohol was in her blood though, not how much alcohol she drank. That can vary depending on your weight and metabolism. There's a chart here which shows estimated levels at different weights: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_alcohol_content

You can see if she'd had three large doubles and been underweight and/or the vodka was stronger than she was used to the discrepancy could have occurred. Or perhaps she was on some kind of medication which allowed more alcohol to flow into the blood but she didn't realise that the two would interact.

She doesn't look underweight in her picture but she does look slim.

[HerBluebiro]

Home measures are often far far stronger than drinks out.

How many of us do measures? I certainly don't

[MaynJune]

OP, there is no one limit across the UK. In Scotland it's lower.

[TheCakes]

I read it and thought she must have poured massive measures. It's a sad story. It scared me a bit, actually.

[Fighterofthenightman]

380mg is enough to result in death in people who aren't chronic alcoholics as has occured here. If she had 3 vodkas they were huge irrelevant of her size and metabolism. Otherwise we'd be seeing thousands of deaths every weekend from slim women/men drinking relatively moderate amounts and we're not.

[Mountainsofmothermadness]

I suppose it depends on your definition of a heavy drinker

[MrsTerryPratchett]

4.5 times the already quite high drink driving limit is a lot. That's not a tippy hand, that's a very large amount of alcohol.

[trulybadlydeeply]

It is stated that a woman who is of average weight and height would have to drink 400ml of vodka - eight double measures - in two hours to reach this level of toxicity. That's a huge amount of vodka.

Very, very sad.

[BarbaraofSeville]

It's nearly 5 times the drink drive limit for England so it must have been three very big strong drinks or she must have had more earlier in the day.

If it was common for people to die after 3 normal pub vodka lemonades even doubles, people would be dropping dead by the thousand every week.

[Fighterofthenightman]

Another article on this says the partner went to bed and had seen her have 3 vodkas but there was no way of knowing if she drank more after he went to bed as he fell asleep and didn't find her till the morning. It seems more likely she drank more after he'd gone to bed than had five times the drink driving limit of alcohol in her blood after 3 vodkas unless as has been said, they were enormous.

[roundaboutthetown]

Well, if it was illegally distilled vodka, heaven only knows how strong it was or what else was in it. Illegal vodka has been found for sale in small supermarkets and off licences.

[Used2bthin]

I just clicked on this and I know her. So sad.

[Jemimapuddleduk]

Very sad story. I assumed that they had been drinking at the fair they'd been to earlier in the night and that on top of the 3 large vodkas contributed to the high blood alcohol and toxicity.

[TheWinterOfOurDiscountTents]

You can see if she'd had three large doubles and been underweight and/or the vodka was stronger than she was used to the discrepancy could have occurred

Only if by large doubles you mean 5 or 6 times the pub measure. Its not physically possible to get to a level of 380mg/100ml on 3 double vodkas, no matter how slim a person is.

[TheCakes]

Actually there was some illegal vodka in my area that had toxic chemicals in it. Potentially deadly. Trading Standards put out a warning.
That would come up on the toxicology reports though, presumably?

[roundaboutthetown]

But vodka can be anything from 40%-85% or even 90% alcohol content.

[roundaboutthetown]

That's why you need to be confident you are buying legally distilled and imported vodka!

[TheWinterOfOurDiscountTents]

There was no suggestion in the investigation or coroners report that there was illegal, overly strong or toxic vodka, which would have easy enough to tell.

[Mrsemcgregor]

I agree with a pp, her dp only saw her drink 3 vodkas but that doesn't mean she didn't drink more. Very sad.

[roundaboutthetown]

Spirytus Polish Vodka is apparently 95% ABV.

[roundaboutthetown]

And it is legal to sell and drink.

[roundaboutthetown]

There is no suggestion from the coroner that he didn't believe the woman only had 3 double vodkas either, though, so far as I can tell from the article.