Doctors Save Bloke Dying Of Alcohol Poisoning... By Pumping 15 More Beers Into His Stomach

Is this the prescription from heaven?

Doctors have stepped up to save a man who was dying of alcohol poisoning with one of the most unorthodox-sounding methods of all time: By pumping another 15 tinnies into his stomach.

Nguyen Van Nhat, a 48-year-old man from the Quang Tri province of Vietnam, was admitted to hospital with a methanol level 1,119 times higher than the appropriate limit.

According to the hospital's head of Intensive Care Unit, Dr. Le Van Lam, the team needed to slow his liver from processing the methanol already in his system - and fast.

As the human liver breaks down ethanol as a priority over methanol, doctors transfused a litre of beer into Nhat and then continued to administer one can of beer an hour until he woke up.

Fifteen beers later and Nhat was completely conscious, having given the team enough time to perform dialysis on him and save his life.

"The therapy with 15 cans of beer is rather unusual, but well understood," Hans-Jörg Busch from the University Hospital of Freiburg explained.

"Maybe the Vietnamese colleagues had no other alcohol on hand.

"Much more important [than the type of alcohol used] is that the therapy is immediately initiated."

If you or someone you know wants to have a chat about alcohol-related issues, please call 1300 ALANON (1300 252 666).