Wed Oct 10, 7:39 AM ET

BRISBANE, Australia - Doctors plugged an Italian tourist into a drip-feed of vodka to save him at a hospital in Australia that ran out of the medicinal alcohol it would normally have used for treatment.   The 24-year-old Italian, who was not further identified, was brought to Mackay Base Hospital in northeastern Queesland state and was diagnosed as having ingested a large quantity of ethylene glycol, a common ingredient of antifreeze that can cause renal failure.

Pure alcohol is often given in treating such cases because it can inhibit the toxic effects of ethylene glycol.

Mackay Base Hospital Dr. Pascal Gelperowicz said the man was given pharmaceutical-grade alcohol when he arrived, but that the hospital’s supplies soon ran out.

“We quickly used all the available vials of 100 per cent alcohol and decided the next best way to get alcohol into the man’s system was by feeding him spirits through a naso gastric tube,” Dr. Gelperowicz said in a statement.

“The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit,” he said. “The hospital’s administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka.”

The patient, was believed to have ingested the poison in an attempt at self-harm, made a successful recover. The incident occurred about two months ago, though the hospital just released information on the case.

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Exotic dancer worker’s comp upheld

Wed Oct 10, 8:34 AM ET

INDIANAPOLIS - An Indiana appeals court upheld a worker’s compensation award Tuesday for an exotic dancer who was injured while performing on a pole at a strip club.  The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Angela Hobson and ordered the state Worker’s Compensation Board to determine if she was entitled to double compensation.

Hobson claimed she suffered neck pain and numbness after injuring herself while dancing at the Shangri-La West club in Fort Wayne on Dec. 20, 2001. She underwent surgery for a herniated disc in her cervical spine, according to court records.

Hobson said she reported her injury to her employers, but they later denied knowledge of the injury.

In 2006, the compensation board awarded her temporary total disability benefits and other compensation totaling more than $10,000 and found that Shangri-La did not have a worker’s compensation policy and was not approved as a self-insurer.

Shangri-La appealed, arguing that the board erred when it found Hobson more credible than its witnesses. But the court declined to reweigh the evidence and upheld the original award, adding a 5 percent increase due to the passage of time.

The court also instructed the board to determine whether Hobson was entitled to double compensation due in part to the allegation that Shangri-La violated state law by not having worker’s compensation insurance.

Dino Zurzolo, who owned the club at the time, said the lack of worker’s compensation insurance at the time was a temporary oversight due to a missed payment.

A phone message left late Tuesday for attorney Samuel Bolinger, who represents Wholesalers Inc., the company that does business as Shangri-La, was not immediately returned.—(Kat note–man did I enter the wrong field of work! LOL)

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Woman jailed for 50 days over cat urine

Tue Oct 9, 9:13 PM ET

TAMPA, Fla. - Cynthia Hunter spent almost two months in jail over a vial of cat urine. Hunter, 38, was arrested Aug. 15 on a charge of petty theft after she was accused of stealing from a Wal-Mart store.  Deputies added charges of possession of a controlled substance after finding a vial containing a yellow substance in her purse. A drug field test suggested the substance was methamphetamine, The Tampa Tribune reported.

Hunter had protested, saying the substance was dehydrated cat urine for her son’s science project and that it had been purchased at an animal clinic. She was released Thursday after lab tests found the substance was, in fact, cat urine.

Hunter pleaded guilty to petty theft and a judge gave her time served. It was not clear if she had an attorney and why the substance might have tested positive for methamphetamine.–KAT NOTE—-I’m innocent I tell ya! Innocent!

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Boy, 6, tries to drive to Applebees

Wed Oct 10, 4:48 AM ET

BROOMFIELD, Colo. - A 6-year-old boy was hungry and decided he’d go to Applebees. So he grabbed the car keys, took his booster seat from the back seat of his grandmother’s car and placed it in the driver’s seat, then made a go of driving himself to the restaurant Tuesday.  He made it about 75 feet. Unable to take the car out of reverse, he crossed the street and ran into a transformer and communication box, knocking out electricity and phone service to dozens of townhomes.

Nobody was injured and the boy, whose name was not released, got out of his car and told his grandmother what happened.

“He proceeded to start the car and started backing up,” said Sgt. Colleen O’Connell of the Broomfield Police Department. “He went backward about 47 feet, hit the curb, then went backward another 29 feet.”

Investigators couldn’t figure out how the boy reached the accelerator.

No charges will be filed.

“I have five children of my own, so I know you cannot watch them every minute they’re awake,” said nearby resident Nancy Hollis, whose power was knocked out by the accident.

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Thou shalt not steal — especially the Bible

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A Singaporean judge sentenced a man to four months in jail for stealing a Bible, admonishing him with Scripture before hauling him off to prison, The Straits Times newspaper reported Wednesday.   District judge Bala Reddy also gave a new Bible to the 26-year-old thief, who said he had tried to steal the book from a bookshop last month because he wanted to replace his old, tattered copy.

At the Tuesday sentencing, the judge told the defendant — who has previous convictions for theft — to open his gift.

“You will see at page 65 that it says “Thou shalt not steal. While you are in prison, sit in prison and read the Bible, and ensure that you don’t come before the courts again,” Reddy said.