New medical paradigms sometimes arrive with shocking impressiveness. Witness this October 10, 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation report:
Drinking marathon saves poisoned tourist
Mackay Base Hospital has successfully used alcoholic beverages to treat a 24-year-old Italian tourist who ingested litres of a poison commonly found in anti-freeze.
After running out of pharmaceutical-grade alcohol used to help stop the poison turning toxic in the stomach, staff of the north Queensland hospital had to give the man rounds of rum, scotch and vodka.
(Thanks to investigator Wendy Cooper for bringing this to our attention.)
UPDATE: The Past-President of the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Statistical Association sent us the following note:
Is this a real treatment or a joke? It?s not unheard of for children or pets to drink antifreeze, for which someone might attempt to administer the ?antidote?. You might post a disclaimer before someone does something stupid.
[Digging around, I find that there is some evidence that] this really is a treatment. However, I?d have to recommend consulting with a physician rather than a bartender.
—Dan Eastwood, MS, Consulting Manager
Division of Biostatistics, Medical College of Wisconsin