1. Drunk and Disorderly = Fun? - Over 97% Under Age 27
Nobody actively enjoys visiting hospitals at any time, but 4am on a Saturday morning is
especially to be dreaded. Recently my husband was suffering from a chest infection and
his asthma was making it very hard for him to breathe so upon guidance from NHS Direct
we trundled off to the Northern General hospital.
Upon arrival, the waiting room didn't seem to be too busy and the staff dealt with us quickly
and efficiently so we were soon ensconced in a cubicle. As ever in public institutions, we
could hear the “goings-on” in other cubicles.
A well dressed hipster-looking, “twenty-something” couple were stage-whispering (the way
only drunk people can), and took it in turns to rest on the bed in their cubicle. After
surfacing the young woman had to be reminded that it was her who was the patient as she
had passed out in the street, not her friend. When she was told that she would need to
give a blood sample in order to assess her condition she again half-shouted that this
couldn't take place as she had taken MDMA. She then disappeared until the extremely
busy staff hunted her down after 2 hours. When the Doctor attended,she had to admit
indignantly to using illegal drugs as well as drinking heavily for at least 14 hours.
In another ward we could hear an incoherent young man whose companion told the doctor
that he had been drinking heavily and had also taken MCAT. He had passed out on the
street and couldn't be woken.
Earlier, a patient had attended with a head injury following a nights drinking and saw fit not
to wait as he had been requested to, in order for a scan to ascertain if he had life-
threatening internal damage. This led to the nursing staff having to track him down via first
Security then the Police. His girlfriend who had attended with him in the first place, had lied
to staff about his whereabouts, when in fact they had been seen on CCTV leaving
together. Was it not important to him or her that his life may rely on the results of such a
test?
During this time we saw groups of early-twenty-year-old s wrapped in blankets stumbling
about, lying on the floor, arguing and generally treating the place like a Common Room.
The crux came when we overheard staff recanting that out of 90 attendees of A&E that
night, only 3 had been over the age of 27,the majority due to alcohol /drugs. Not having
been a shy, retiring wallflower myself during my teens to thirties I understand the enormity
and efficacy of alcohol in our Rites of Passage and socialising, but is it really considered
“de rigeur” to have your stomach pumped following a night out? Is it not shameful now to
have to admit to illegal drug use, in order to save your own life? At what point did Alcohol
stop being enough to lubricate the awkwardness of social meetings?