Death prompts excess alcohol consumption warning

A Canterbury businessman died from a fall after drinking 3.5 litres of beer and up to 1.7 litres of wine in less than four hours.

A coroner’s report into the 47-year-old man’s death, released yesterday, warned of the danger of intoxication and the importance of monitoring a head injury after the man fell backwards while drunk at Christchurch’s Carlton Bar and Restaurant.

The man, whose name cannot be published, had been drinking heavily with friends on May 13, 2018. At 9.42pm, he moved outside to the smokers area and lost his balance, falling to the ground and hitting his head. Friends said he lost consciousness for 10 to 20 seconds but otherwise did not appear to be harmed.

An Uber driver who took the man home soon after said he appeared to be ‘‘really drunk’’. The man fell asleep in the car and had to be helped to his house by the driver and a friend. The friend left him asleep on the driveway while he tried to rouse the man’s partner. She had to leave him outside to recover because he was too heavy for her to move. She checked on the man six to eight times in the next couple of hours.

She eventually called friends who came to the house and moved the man towards the back door. A friend noticed what she thought was vomit dribbling from the man’s mouth and blood bubbling from his nose.

Emergency services were called and the man was taken by ambulance to Christchurch Hospital. A CT scan confirmed he had suffered significant head injuries. By the time the man was transferred to the intensive care unit at 4.30am, his injuries were identified as unsurvivable. He died in hospital two days later.

The coroner said the man’s death illustrated the importance of following Health Promotion Agency guidelines, which recommended no more than four standard drinks for women and five standard drinks for men on any single occasion. The man’s blood alcohol level was more than six times the legal driving limit by the time he arrived at hospital.

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority ruled Carlton staff should have noticed the man’s intoxication levels in the last 45 minutes he was there. It suspended the bar’s on- licence for eight days at the end of 2019 and the manager’s certificate for 28 days.

His injuries were identified as unsurvivable.