The Otago-Southland coroner has warned of the ''real risk'' of dying from excessive drinking following the death of a Winton barman who drank so much he became unconscious, was unable to hold his head up, and cut off his own air supply.
Kirusanth Thangaraju (28), an otherwise fit and healthy man, was found unresponsive and not breathing in the men's toilets at the Winton Hotel on September 8 last year. Despite CPR, he could not be revived.
Duty manager Cindy Bragg told a non-public inquest in Invercargill last month she found Mr Thangaraju about 1.55am, sitting on the floor in the men's urinal area, with his back against the toilet cubicle wall. His head was slumped forward and his legs were flat on the ground.
He had been socialising with friends at the bar that evening and was estimated to have left them about 14 minutes before he was found.
In written findings released earlier this month, coroner David Crerar said the evidence showed Mr Thangaraju had died from ''positional asphyxiation'', where the position of a person's body cuts off their oxygen supply.
While it was rare, positional asphyxia in intoxicated people was not unprecedented, he said.
Mr Thangaraju's blood-alcohol concentration was approaching three times the blood-alcohol level at which it was illegal to drive, he said, warning those who ''consume alcohol to excess'' could lose control of their own safety and ''run a real risk of suffering the consequences''.
A full police investigation was carried out because of the unusual circumstances of Mr Thangaraju's death. Police were satisfied there were no health issues, personal issues, or suspicious circumstances.
Environmental Science and Research (ESR) analysis showed he had an alcohol level of 209mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, and a ''very high'' level of 1277mg of alcohol per 100ml of stomach contents, indicating he had consumed alcohol shortly before he died.
Alcohol was a central nervous system depressant which had similar effects to a general anaesthetic, the ESR report said.
''Where alcohol is concerned, there is a fine line between anaesthesia and death,'' the report said.
