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?

Is that 9 units?

Basing the drink driving limit on 2 units, 4.5 times that I'm getting 9.

2 units is the same as one pint of lager, one bottle of alcopop, a medium glass of wine, etc.

I would say that since that was the reading at autopsy, initially it was a lot higher as the body usually deals will a unit an hour. So when exactly she died would having a bearing on the actual amount drunk. As bodily functions would stop I assume.

I was given some vodka for Christmas, not a fan anyway, but this stuff could clear drains and DH corroborated it wasn't just my assertion. So a dodgy batch on the black market, you think you're getting a bargain for a low price, but it's actually lethal.

It's a 'story' because of the shock value of dying after drinking 3 vodkas as reported. As Pp have said, hundreds of people would be dying weekly in the U.K., if not daily, if that was the case.

No, 1 standard pour of 25ml regular strength vodka is 1 unit, so you're looking at 16 units plus.

HeeHigh I do have to agree with you, there was a suicide years back, someone I knew of, it was bad enough to say the person did it this way, they went on to report why. I thought that's pretty macabre but pretty sad at the same time, it was an issue that could have been sorted easily. So tragic.

With TP-T I think they've said no autopsy or no inquest, can't recall which, so looks like money buys you a bit of dignity.

Clearly there IS more to the story and that is what the paper is trying to suggest. As many pps have said people don't die after drinking 3 vodka and lemonade!

*Today 17:14 HeeHighls

I imagine this was binge drinking which is far more dangerous short term than coming home and sharing a bottle of red each night over a meal.

Then there's the fact that Vodka has no taste, or so I believe, so mix with something sweet such a lemonade or cola, half and half and it's a recipe for disaster. It's not like Rum, Whisky or Gin, where too much in the mix causes face grimace, so further diluted.

Also what good liquid already in the body counts to dilute the effect. Had she eaten Pizza earlier, and little liquid throughout the day would not have been as beneficial as lots of watery veg. and much water/ cups of tea.

It's a very sad case and a lesson for all to also drink water throughout a drinking session. One glass sipped for every alcoholic drink.*

But... This is alcohol poisoning! I'm with the OP it can't be about not lining your stomach properly or using larger home made measures- alcohol poisioning takes place at a much much higher level than all of that.

Someone said upthread she would have had to have had about 8 doubles within a couple of hours to have that blood alcohol level, which is over half a standard bottle of standard vodka, which puts it into context.

However a lot of posters are getting % alcohol and proof mixed up. They are not the same.

Spirytus Polish Vodka is 95% ABV or 192 proof. No confusion there.

Jesus that's a horrifying story. Dh and I have often polished off a litre of vodka between us at home, once every few months. We won't be doing that again.

I agree, this should not have been reported on nationally - it is a tragedy for the family and local community, but nobody else's business. I certainly don't think the article should have contained an analysis of the dangers of home measures, binge drinking, dangerously strong vodka, the possibility that the husband was lying or that his wife decided to drink herself to death without him, or must have been a habitual heavy drinker, or the differences that someone's size, gender, metabolism, speed of drinking, emptiness of stomach or level of dehydration can make. So, I therefore also object somewhat to someone publicising this article still further to go on about how impossible they think it is to die after drinking three vodkas and why they think so.

It was only reported on nationally because of the suggestion it was alcohol poisoning after 'only 3 vodkas'. If it had been 'woman drinks a lot and dies of alcohol poisoning' it probably wouldn't have made even the local papers.

It's the reporting that the OP is objecting to so it's entirely relevant to the thread.

She is commenting on a real person's life and publicising still further something that should not have been publicised so widely in the first place. To my mind, that is in bad taste. Find another article that is less personal to a grieving family to choose to talk about press reporting standards, as any analysis on the failure of reporting in this case inevitably includes dissecting the poor woman's final hours of life and discussing how much she weighed, whether she regularly binge drank, etc, etc.

The headline is terribly written as well

Woman died from alcohol poisoning off just three vodka and lemonades

I'm not a grammar pedant, but surely that's wrong

My objection is it's a family matter. The Coroner is satisfied so now case closed.
Still it's splashed all over the Nationals. It shouldn't be.

The results shouldn't be known to the public.

Too much is known about everyone. Next will be how much you earn.

Unexpected deaths aren't just family matters though. They're held in public courts and a matter of public record. I don't think newspapers should have reported in the way they did but the OP is only commenting on that.

MN threads discuss all sorts of things in the news and on TV.

I tend to agree Fighter. Many things reported are just family matters really. This story has a shock value because of the level of alcohol reported, and I'm not surprised by the interest.

The article I read said she had been out drinking with family first and then came home to 3 vodkas so the article is very wrong that she died from just 3 vodkas !

There is no such thing as a 'large double'.

I wondered about this when I saw the it in the news.

It is awfully sad. Bar one experience when I was 18, I've always been very careful indeed about home spirit measures. I do actually have a proper bar standard measurer. It is too easy to get heavy handed when drinking at home, more so if already feeling the influence of the previous drink.

I don't think the amount she drank would have amounted to 3 double vodkas in pub measures, more she was only seen to have 3 separate glasses during the course of the evening.

Fuck me! I went to school with her!

All this speculating if she had drunk more, if she had just eaten a pizza, if she'd died of exposure - it's real vulture-like. It disgusts me.

RIP Heidi