The Best Value Online RSA Course Offer In Australia!

Responsible Service of Alcohol Update: Doctors Warn Public about Impact of Excessive Drinking

By Peter Cutforth

May 7, 2013

drunken person, excessive drinking, Impact of Excessive Drinking, Responsible Service of Alcohol, Responsible Service of Alcohol Update

RSA staff, even more motivation for you to enforce responsible service of alcohol laws has come to light, with doctors and surgeons across Oz urging the nation to change its culture of drinking to reduce alcohol related harm from accidents and brawls.

Doctors say the number of people being brought into surgery as a result of drunken violence is unacceptable. Injuries such as shattered jaws and severed tendons are now common in hospitals with doctors now describing much of their work as focusing on ”preventable tragedies” rather than paying attention to the people with natural diseases.

People suffering from injuries, both self-inflicted and at the hands of some other drunken person are taking up space in hospitals and doctors time, time that could be spent on people with life threatening illnesses.

I came across an interesting article on SMH.com.au which detailed the doctors’ frustration and the reason for their calls for more responsible drinking:

Whether those people being wheeled into operating theatres are victims of their own drinking or other people’s, the vice-president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Michael Grigg, says surgeons were referring to the situation as an epidemic.

”Surgeons are now spending an inordinate amount of time on alcohol-related injuries,” Professor Grigg, a vascular surgeon and professor of surgery at Melbourne’s Monash University, said.

”As a result of that we have commissioned our own internal report on this issue to guide our advocacy efforts. We expect to come up against the carefully marshalled forces of the alcohol industry. But we owe it to the community to highlight the extent of the damage being wrought by the abuse of alcohol.”

While surgeons had previously worked with government to introduce legislation around blood-alcohol levels and drink-driving, a vascular and trauma surgeon at Sydney’s Liverpool Hospital, John Crozier, said clinicians were now tackling more alcohol-related injury and violence.

More than 350 people died in Australia and 14,000 were hospitalised because of someone else’s drinking every year, he said.

”The tragedy is so much is preventable,” Dr Crozier said. ”Whether harm is occurring through an impulsive act by an intoxicated young person who ends up injuring themselves or someone else, or someone is harmed through an act of aggression by an intoxicated person, the end result can be horrific injuries and death.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/doctors-tired-of-alcohol-damage-20130427-2ilc7.html#ixzz2RwP1T7Vn

The post went on to explain how every area of surgery is being affected by this epidemic, from plastic surgeons having to repair tendons of youths who get drunk and punch windows or orthopaedic surgeons having to fix the legs of people who get drunk, then have a fall.

The doctors have called for stricter measures to be employed such as increasing tax on beverages proportionally to their alcoholic content and reducing the availability of alcohol in the community because as they point out prevention is better than cure.

The post also documents the case of Damien Delgado who lost his leg in the 900 metres between the bar and his home. The man lost control of his ute in the rain and because he had consumed a few drinks before driving his judgement was impaired resulting in a crash which almost claimed his life. Doctors are urging people not to follow in Damien’s footsteps but rather learn from his mistakes and learn to drink moderately and responsibly.

(Read the full story at: http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/doctors-tired-of-alcohol-damage-20130427-2ilc7.html#ixzz2RwP1T7Vn)

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

The Best Value Online RSA
Course Offer In Australia!