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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To drink drive my neighbour to hospital?

159 replies

hanette · 15/11/2013 00:08

So, had 2x 25 CL glasses of wine in pub w DH. He goes on to meet friend, I go to put D teenagers to bed.

Knock at door 11.10pm, neighbour asking me to take to A and E in car due to plummeting blood pressure and severe pains in left arm

I did - adrenaline kicked in - I tried to persuade them to call an ambulance or wait for my DH but they were so distressed I just took them in my car

Am shocked - am a rubbish driver anyway and have never driven after more than one glass of wine

So - was I over the limit? I had a plate of salmon and veg for din. And also WWTD?

Am shocked at myself and how I deffo felt different (less safe) behind the wheel.

OP posts:
LittleBairn · 15/11/2013 02:35

There is no excuse not to have called an ambulance and refuse to drive. You should be ashamed of yourself.

BerylPeril · 15/11/2013 02:41

Easy, Littlebairn, the OP did say she was shocked at herself. Do you always make the right decision in an emergency?

LittleBairn · 15/11/2013 02:43

beryl when it comes to drink driving there is no excuse good enough.
999 is there for merge ices and advice so yes I generally do make the right decisions on emergencies.

OP Did you tell your neighbour you were over the limit?

LittleBairn · 15/11/2013 02:43

Emergencies

claraschu · 15/11/2013 02:43

You may have saved her life. You might not have been over the limit, as you had 5 units over time. I think the limit is quite conservative,so even if you were over it, you were probably not driving badly. Ambulances can take a very long time in rural areas (i speak from experience).

How would you have felt if she had gone into cardiac arrest and died?

I think you did the right thing.

dozily · 15/11/2013 03:03

Even if you'd been sober you should have called an ambulance for a possible heart attack.

And never drink drive. Don't make excuses or exceptions - the possible consequences are just too serious.

AchyFox · 15/11/2013 03:13

Hope she is OK.

999 if this happens again though.
Even if you are sober.

jacks365 · 15/11/2013 06:46

I've just been reading up and in a test for proposals to lower the drink drive limit it varied between 300 and 575 ml to put people at the current limit also I get the impression that you were drinking quite a bit earlier so it is entirely possible that you were not over the limit or even anywhere near it. The effects you noticed to your driving are more likely just your heightened perceptions due to the stress of the situation. One of the points about drink driving is that you are not aware that your driving is affected.

You should however have insisted on an ambulance due to risk of it being heart related.

deepfriedsage · 15/11/2013 07:37

Maybe its normal for some to drink the best part of a bottle of wine a night in charge of dc, its not behaviour I follow. If you are drunk you cant think straight to deal with a neighbour crisis how would you deal with a dc crisis in that state. Since I got pregnant I had no interest in alcohol, my dc mean too much to me. I had dc young and they are teens now. I have seen too many pisd head parents in my time who think its ok to drink once dc are in bed every night

Original poster
hanette · 15/11/2013 07:39

Morning everyone.

Thanks for the replies (well apart from deepsage!). I hadn't thought about the medical equipment aspect in the back of an ambulance, good point

Nope I didn't mention my wine to the neighbour, I just said yes. I checked that site and it is possible I was under the limit by then

You are all absolutely right though - a stupid thing to do and I will call ambulance if I am ever in that situation again for sure

Bit early for me to call on neighbour but will knock on my way to work

OP posts:
froubylou · 15/11/2013 07:42

It is never, ever ok to drink and drive. In any circumstances.

My DO was rushed to hospital by ambulance a couple of years ago. I couldn't go in the ambulance as I was waiting for my friend to arrive to sit with DD.

This was at about 5am I think? I had the night before had about 5 halves of lager and a chinese takeaway. I had my last drink at about 7.30pm. It didn't cross my mind to take the car as I automatically assumed I was over the limit so waited 20 minutes for a taxi to get to him.

You should have phoned a taxi, a family member of the neighbours, or in a life or death situation an ambulance for the neighbour.

brettgirl2 · 15/11/2013 07:43

Surely if you think someone is having a heart attack you call an ambukance? Confused

Don't beat yourself up you were trying to help Brew

Guitargirl · 15/11/2013 07:47

You drank two-thirds of a bottle of wine and then thought it was ok to get behind the wheel of a car, even though you 'deffo felt different'...!?! This thread has made me so angry I will be hiding it.

GivesYouHell · 15/11/2013 07:49

did something similar if it helps. I'm usually teetotal, but had been suffering insomnia. I knocked back a very large vodka, intending to go straight to bed, but as soon as I'd downed it I received a phone call to tell me that my son had been hit by a car and it was serious. I got straight in the car and drove to the hospital (about 5 minutes drive away).

I do remember being quite thankful for the alcohol steadying my nerves later that evening when all hell was breaking loose in the hospital!

It was utterly wrong to have driven...but I suspect I'd do the same again in those circs.

Betrayedbutsurvived · 15/11/2013 07:50

Omg. This is the exact reason my daughter was nearly killed. She was taken ill and the guy she was with decided to drive her to the hospital instead of ringing an ambulance. It took over an hour to cut her out of the car, she had: several broken ribs, collapsed lung, broken bones in her back and neck, lost her spleen, broken pelvis, and a cut kidney. She was in intensive care for three weeks, hospital for six and bed bound for twelve weeks. For the first two and a half weeks the doctors couldn't tell us if she'd live or not. She is still in constant pain to this day over three years later. Oh, and they guy who was driving lost a year of his life in jail. And all because he thought it would be ok to drive "cos it was an emergency, and he hadn't drunk that much"

Badvoc · 15/11/2013 07:55

Ambulance,
Always!
What if she had fine into cardiac arrest whilst you were driving!?

Sokmonsta · 15/11/2013 08:03

Op you reacted to the urgency and distress of your neighbour without thinking of the consequences to yourself. Clearly you've had mis-givings about driving while having drunk, but

PrimalLass · 15/11/2013 08:03

You drank two-thirds of a bottle of wine and then thought it was ok to get behind the wheel of a car, even though you 'deffo felt different'...!?! This thread has made me so angry I will be hiding it.

It doesn't say anywhere that she downed it and then got straight in the car. It could have been hours beforehand.

2rebecca · 15/11/2013 08:05

If I think someone is seriously ill I'd ring 999 even if sober for the reasons already given. The only reason I'd drive anyone to hospital even if sober would be if we were in the middle of nowhere, although even then sometimes ambulances are stationed very near and they have oxygen and resus kit so it's usually worth phoning 999 and finding out the situation re amb arrival times first.

lougle · 15/11/2013 08:07

The guidance currently, is that you only start losing alcohol from your system after you stop drinking. art a rate of one unit per hour. So a 3 unit glad of wine will be clear 4 hours after it's finished.

Sokmonsta · 15/11/2013 08:08

But you did what most people would do and just reacted without thinking properly - its a hard thing to take a step back when faced with an emergency and distressed person to think logically.

It is very easy to sit on the other side of the fence and tell you what you should or should not have done and how X doing this caused Y to happen. You've had a lucky lesson this time. Next time you come across a similar situation you will be able to apply your own experience and make a better judgement.

2rebecca · 15/11/2013 08:09

it won't be that many hours before if the neighbour knocked on the door just after 11 and she'd only started drinking in the evening after she and her husband were home from work.
I think the neighbour was being unreasonable here for banging on a neighbours door saying they had an emergency but being unwilling to phone an ambulance. The neighbour was maybe panicking and not thinking straight though which is why I'd have just told them that emergencies require ambulances and phoned one.

Floggingmolly · 15/11/2013 08:09

Why are you asking after the event? You have to know you shouldn't have done it, were you breathalysed? Or are you somehow proud of bucking the system and this is your stealth boast?

ll31 · 15/11/2013 08:13

Fact is reason you decided not to call ambulance and drive drunk is because of the affect of alcohol on your decision making ability. So no you shouldn't have driven,insane thing to do. No justification at all,ever. You need to decide how you can avoid doing it again as you clearly can't as of now be sure you won't. This is not a trivial thing, you could have destroyed lives.

Original poster
hanette · 15/11/2013 08:13

Betrayed - I so sorry to hear about your daughter

OP posts:
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