Vacation is a time to indulge, but for a British father this became deadly as he attempted to drink all 21 cocktails offered at the Jamaican resort where he was staying, according to ITV News.
Timothy Southern, 53, and his family, which included his children, were on holiday at the Royal Decameron Club Caribbean in Saint Ann, Jamaica, last May, when he met two other guests at the resort who were participating in a drinking challenge.
Their goal was to finish all 21 cocktails offered on the resort’s bar menu.
Southern, who reportedly had already been drinking brandy and beer all day before even attempting the drinking challenge, consumed 12 of the bar’s cocktails before returning to his hotel room. Shortly after he returned to his room he entered into a state of distress.
Southern’s cause of death was subsequently determined by a pathologist in Kingston, Jamaica, to be alcohol poisoning, officially defined as “acute gastroenteritis due to alcohol consumption,” according to a report in The Daily Mail.
His family is blaming his death on the resort, which they claim, did not do enough in caring for him.
“He was on his back choking. I put him in the recovery position and screamed for an ambulance,” a member of his family said, according to ITV News. “He was making a gurgling sound. As soon as he was in the recovery position he vomited. I was shouting his name with no response.”
They also believe the hotel should have called an ambulance sooner, according to the report. It is not clear why the family did not call the ambulance instead of waiting for the resort to do so.
“When the nurse arrived, I said, ‘Had an ambulance been called?’ ” the family member recalled. “And she said, ‘No.’ I thought she would take over. But that was not the case. I noticed he was starting to lose temperature. I checked his pulse and couldn’t find it.”
The family member also said that they had to prompt the nurse to treat Southern. “I said, ‘Don’t just sit there looking at him, start CPR.’ She only gave him chest compressions. Maybe if she had known what she was doing, maybe he would still be here.”
“Alcohol poisoning is a serious — and sometimes deadly — result of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “Drinking too much too quickly can affect breathing, heart rate, body temperature and gag reflex. In some cases, this can lead to a coma and death.”
The full toxicology reports could take three years.
