Won’t alcohol or a warm drink help for shock patient?
No. On the contrary, such drinks may be positively harmful. The heat from a warm drink, just like that of a hot-water bottle, will tend to divert much-needed blood away from the brain to other parts of the body. Alcohol, too, causes the blood vessels in the skin to open up and carry more blood to the skin (that is what produces the familiar feeling of warmth we experience after a drink). Unconscious casualties could choke to death if forced to drink. Those with chest, abdominal, or internal injuries could be further injured. And many casualties will need an anesthetic after arrival in hospital, for which it is necessary to have an empty stomach. Even burn victims, who need fluids, should be given only cool water drinks.
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Time: November 7, 2008, 11:54 pm
[…] patient for fainting. In this case, too, it will do no harm to give the patient a warm, sweetened drink—but not alcohol—once he is conscious and has started to recover. However, it is vital to […]