Highest BAL?

[nickos]

Hey everyone, I currently work in the psychiatric area of the emergency department. Of course we get quite a variety of patients, from suicidal to homicidal to hallucinating to self-injurious. I see a lot of patients with diagnosed mental disorders who are either on prescribed medication (on the correct dose or "deciding dosage" themselves), self-medicate with legal or illegal substances, or a combination of both. I have had quite a few patients who I suspected or knew had been drinking, but was amazed to find out what their blood alcohol levels were! Just in the last few weeks we've had a few folks at .042 .42 and one at .047 .47. These people were emotional and clearly having issues, but able to speak clearly, move around, etc.

So, what's the highest BAL you've seen?

[nurselsteele]

we just had an individual (male) in his 50's die in police custody while waiting for transport to prison with a bal of : .42

he was an unstable diabetic, htn & seizure disorder, i think the bal being that high was enough to send him into seizures & end his life, but they are waiting on the complete toxicology reports to see if any other drugs where in his system...

i guess everyones bodys are different & can't handle as much as others...

[TiredMD]

i guess everyones bodys are different & can't handle as much as others...

it's not about different peoples' tolerance, it's about how much they drink on a regular basis and how long they've been drinking. the chronic alcoholic will tolerate enormous levels of alcohol in their system; the average high school kid will not.

my freshman year of college, two kids died during rush week with bals in the 0.4's. respiratory depression after passing out and they were done. a few years later i'm working at harborview, and the homeless dudes who had been drinking for a decade were walking and talking with levels in the 0.6's. crazy stuff.

the body is an amazing machine, and will adapt itself to the most toxic circumstances in order to survive.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

0.92, age 23, found him on the side of the highway unresponsive but alive. last i heard he has so many deficits as far as fine motor and speech he will require a caregiver for the rest of his life....