Man drinks liquid nitrogen at a pub and is rushed to hospital
Can a drink in a pub be dangerous for life. We never ever had any apprehensions while enjoying a drink at the pub or restaurant. But the recent incident that happened with a Delhi businessman will change the perception of enjoyment and drinking out in a pub or lounge.
This businessman from Delhi like any other individual went on to order a drink however, his mistake was to order a latest one on the track. He ordered a drink with extra fizz (frozen one) for which now a days liquid nitrogen is being used. He did not let the fizz to evaporate completely and drank whole of the drink. It compelled him to enter a scene of medical emergency and he was rushed to hospital.
The incident happened on April 13. The Attending doctor asked his relatives to sign the ‘risk of Death on Table’ certificate as they were not very positive the chances of survival after the surgery. Though the doctors with their efforts were able to perform a successful surgery. When they opened his abdominal cavity, they found large perforations inside whole of his stomach. “Perforated abdomen is fairly common. But it is usually 0.5 mm to 1 mm. But in this case, the abdomen looked like an open book,” Dr Amit D Goswami, who attended to Prasad at Columbia Asia hospital in Gurgaon.
Perforations are generally repaired by stitching, but in Prasad’s case, we had to plan differently. Because of the large perforation and unhealthy tissues surrounding the perforation, the surgical team decided to remove the lower portion of the stomach and artificially join the remaining portion with small intestine,” Dr Goswami said. It is been two months after the surgery has been performed, they concluded the cause of the perforation to be consumption of liquid Nitrogen.
Liquid Nitrogen is used as a coolant in various appliances and is colder than any normal temperature human tissues can survive. So its contact with human tissue can cause an instant frost bite labeling to be potentially dangerous for human consumption. We should be cautious while trying anything especially when there is risk of any health hazard.
