Fake Vodka Leads To A Night In The Hospital

[murrayjames]

A word of warning. Chengdu.

Went out with some friends to the bar last weekend. Ordered a bottle of Absolut for 288 RMB. I remember the first drink. My next memory is waking up in a hospital bed six hours later.

What happened, according to my Chinese wife, is that I left the bar swaying but otherwise fine. Fell asleep in the car. Threw up at home, passed out. Woke up, starting throwing up blood. Become unresponsive, at which point my mother-in-law called an ambulance.

The problem was 假酒, fake alcohol. The doctor told my mom I was poisoned. Whether he meant alcohol poisoning or that I was actually drinking some form of poison, I'm not sure. My mom thinks he said the latter.

My drinking partner, a Chinese man who works in construction and is a seasoned drinker, spent the same night throwing up. His pregnant wife stayed up with him and took care of him. She later told my wife that he's never been sick that like that before.

Among my Chinese friends the response has been something like this:

"Sorry, man. Didn't you know the Western alcohol here was fake? Stick to beer or baijiu."

Well, live and learn. Hopefully this little post can save others the same fate.

I feel fine now. Probably the only funny thing to come of this was the morning after. I woke in a hospital bed, groggy and confused. As I came to I could hear the blip of medical equipment in the background. A doctor, three nurses, my wife and in-laws all crowded around me. "James, how are you feeling?" asked my wife. “嗯？喝醉了，没问题。”

[anonymoose]

So what's it like to suddenly and unexpectedly wake up in hospital?

[martin_r]

Any consequences for the crooks that sold you the fake booze, or is it all just "Buyer beware?". Maybe Esther Rantzen should head east, since she's got some spare time now.

throwing up blood

That's downright scary.

[murrayjames]

So what's it like to suddenly and unexpectedly wake up in hospital?

Scary enough. Without my family's help it would have been much scarier.

Any consequences for the crooks that sold you the fake booze?

Don't think so, no. My friends tell me this is par for the course for Chinese bars in town. Fake booze, fake bags, fake DVDs... it's all an open secret.

[roddy]

You might get some mileage out of a complaint to the 工商局 or whoever is in charge of food safety. You might even get a reward (in 2007 at least).