Please help, should I take him to hospital?

[ohnopleasenotthis]

My neighbours have just knocked and told us that our 14yo son was unconscious on the ground outside our house - we rushed out and he's clearly been drinking HUGE amounts of alcohol he's wet himself, he's now regained consciousness and vomited copiously, he can't stand unaided and he's barely able to talk. Is also being quite aggressive and wont let his dad bring him into the house. Not able to tell us how much he's had or what it was.

Obviously he's in shit so deep he'll probably never get out but should we take him to hospital? DH wants to put him to bed (not sure how!) but I'm worried about choking on vomit and/or alcohol poisoning.

Ah dear what a nightmare! Hope it goes as good as it can at the hospital

Ambulance is the right call.also agree you need to phone his friends.

Definitely the right call - no matter how angry you are, his health needs to come first. Alcohol poisoning can be fatal.

@OhTheRoses

What a horrifically thoughtless post.
That’s not a blanket truism, at all, firstly.
Secondly, I hope to god nobody else reading this has second thoughts about getting a DC medical attention that they might need, because of your scaremongering.

You 100% did the right thing. He is only 14, he could be seriously ill taking on enough alcohol to make him unconscious. Very concerned that his ‘friends’ left him outside your house like that! Hope he is ok and that it puts him off drinking for a very long time!

They don’t “pump stomachs” any more btw. It was shown to do more harm than good and be of no benefit over 15 years ago. Although I have come across some medical staff who do it either because it’s just what they’ve always done, or even worse to “teach a lesson”. It’s not a nice procedure.

He does need his airway protected and other supportive measures so a&e sounds like the best place.

Hope he’s alright OP!

Oh bless! You must be so worried and angry at the same time. Hope he recovers soon so you can ground his ass until he us 20!

Oh gosh OP, hope he is okay once he’s coherent again.
Don’t feel bad about calling the ambulance, he needs to be seen as soon as possible.
I’d be asking questions about his so called ‘mates’ too. Not much of friends if they would just leave him in that state.

Paramedics came out and checked him over, did obs and left. Said they don't pump stomachs any more and just to keep an eye on him. Understandably they were quite unfriendly.

If we get reported to SS, what can we expect to happen, does anyone know?

No. If he's vomited he'll be fine. Unconscious just means incoherent and in a state of collapse. Put him to bed and keep a close eye on him. Do shifts. He'll wake up with the hangover from hell which will last for two days. Don't give him anything to eat until mid afternoon. Something dry and carbohydrate. Give him plenty of fluids, though. In the evening, ask him to tell the story. Don't clog up the NHS with him.

I think that’s very unlikely tbh.

.

My son has got into worse scrapes than that and none ever called social services.

OP you were right to call an ambulance. You don’t know what has gone on before. He could have a head injury. The alcohol may be masking other injuries that you don’t know about. He may not have been unconscious due to the alcohol but a head injury especially as he can’t stand. He may have fallen.
Also as Floranomad said he may not have been safe in the car. He may cause an accident if violent.
If he started fitting he will be attended to and therefore better to have medical intervention immediately. No one knows if he has taken any drugs or his drink was spiked by others.

Other posters we don’t know how far OP is from the hospital. My previous address was 35 miles. That could be crucial to him.

OP I hope he will be alright. Teenagers are a worry.

They'll investigate, find it to be a one off event, assess your parenting in general and close the case. They have to look into it and make sure that it isn't a regular occurance and that he isn't being allowed out every weekend to get shitfaced and that will be that. Obviously if it happens repeatedly then I imagine they will get involved but otherwise it would just be a check.

No further advice to add, but just wanted to add to the supportive messages. Parenting teenagers is so hard. Hope your DS is ok and he suffers nothing but a bad hangover. You have done the right thing, better to be safe than sorry. Hang in therex

My son ended up in A&E in similar circumstances aged 15. Drank a shit ton and had to be taken to hospital. I’ve been where you are. Social services were not involved or informed. Don’t worry.

DB did this age 14 many years ago. My parents spent hours in the night walking him round the Garden and forcing fluids down him. They eventually put him to bed at dawn, when he had stopped being sick and was starting to come round.

Depends upon how much effort you are going to put into helping him sober up.

Hell of a waste of an ambulance...I'm not surprised they were unfriendly.
Don't leave him alone. Make sure he's not going to choke on his own vomit. Let him sober up. And hope he's learned his lesson!

I'm awfully sorry *sheepofwallstreet" but that's very likely to happen and I wish I'd had the advice I've given in advance when dd od'd

If there's no previous contact op you are likely to get a phone call, be signposted to early intervention services (don't know what they are because the sw who phoned me wasn't able to explain) and get a letter saying case closed. It's likely to be logged with MASH team

Just saw update. I’m surprised they left him. Especially as he has been unconscious. Perhaps the end of a shift but shouldn’t be unfriendly. I have a friend who is a paramedic and trains others he wouldn’t like that but he also has teenagers.

Oh and roses - the staff certainly weren’t reductive and didn’t blame me. They were actually quick to reassure me that it’s a common occurrence and were perfectly pleasant and kind to me.