Alcohol Over Use Kills

"The Coroner of Lake County, IL talking about life and death in the purview of a County Coroner"

Dr. Richard Keller ~is preparing for a series of talks that he will be giving next month regarding the effects of alcohol on the adolescent brain. It will be part of a panel presentation regarding underage drinking prevention that a group is presenting at 4 sites. He has spoken on the effects of alcohol on the adolescent brain at several venues.

"Dr. Keller"....
Of interest to this note is that at one of the group meetings one of the others involved asked me to be sure to specifically mention “alcohol poisoning”. (We also discussed my including the fact that alcohol is the ‘number one’ date rape drug)

We don’t see alcohol overdose deaths in underage drinkers very often, most cases get intervention before they die.

While it is an infrequent cause of death, we had one in our county this week.
A young 18 year old man died of alcohol overdose (who, as fate would have it, went to high school with my daughter).

My daughter described the memorial service to me last evening; many of his friends spoke highly of him and spoke of the tragedy of his death.

We often forget that alcohol kills, not just through car crashes, but because it is itself a toxin, a poison. Consumed in large enough quantities it can and does kill. Adolescents are particularly at risk because they tend to binge drink (5 or more drinks in rapid succession) and do not get the drowsiness shut off cue that most adults get.

The relatively new Illinois felony “social host” law will likely be invoked in this case: if great bodily harm or death results, the parent (host) faces possible imprisonment and possible significant fines.

Kids shouldn’t die when they are still kids
Think, don’t take chances, make good choices!


Please tell your daughter I am sorry for her loss. I shall be thinking of her.
Vonna

Madonna & Child

I took this picture in Washington DC - their are so many museums - so much to do. What a beautiful city despite the fact that our economy has crashed. Take it one day at a time and we will all survive this. Together we can survive anything.

I had no idea that you could do this ~

Pardon me but I am a little behind lately - life has a tendency to get in the way.

8 months hit me hard - 8 months I cannot believe 8 month has passed almost 9 months now. Blindsided ~ smack me upside the head and took me down for the count.

I am still hear!

As I read Dr. Keller's blog the following post hit a nerve within me that has motivated me to ~ let's say WAKE-UP!

Blog entry ~ Friday, September 05, 2008

Regular folks can report drugs and doctors I was talking with the mother of an individual who died recently. As she mentioned, neither of them are young, but she reminded me of a statement I often reiterate, “Kids (no matter the age) shouldn’t die before their parents”.

Her son died of medication-related death, in that the prescribed medications he was taking likely complicated his underlying medical conditions (sleep apnea and heart disease) and the combination of those things led to his death. She wants to make sure it doesn’t happen to some other mother’s son. She has concerns about both the medications and her son’s doctor. In addition to our working with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation on cases we feel are egregious on the doctors’ part and with the DEA on drug (medication)-related deaths, I told her she too can file report/complaints.

She was unaware of this, despite some research on her own, so I thought I’d throw the information up here so that more folks would be aware:

Consumers (i.e. regular folks) can file reports on medications (problems and concerns) with the FDA Med Watch Program. The forms and instructions are available online.

Concerns about individual physician’s can be filed with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (for some bizarre political reason actually the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. (Every state has their own variation of our state regulatory agency)

My spin on this post ~

I am beginning to believe that the "FRIENDS" of the children in our community that have died this past year have a story to tell.

What if they do KNOW the true story of what happened the night their "FRIEND" died. What secrets do they have inside that is burning a hole in their heart.
What are they afraid of? ~
What have they got to loose - Just another friend?

Think about it ~

"Talk to your Children hear them Speak"
~find out where the children an go to report any wrongdoing with out the fear of being called that 'rat' ~ It starts with you ~ the parent!