New Delhi: He walked into a pub in Gurgaon, hoping to chill there for some time. Little did this 30-year-old businessman know that he would soon land in hospital with doctors having to remove nearly half of his stomach.
Reportedly, the man who does not wish to be named had ordered a cocktail laced with liquid nitrogen and consumed it even before the white smoke – liquid nitrogen vapours – had vanished. Though he experienced breathlessness and abdominal pain after his first drink, he ordered another one.
Within a few minutes itself the man had to be rushed to hospital as he was in immense pain and also his stomach was swollen. On assessing him the doctors found that he had a weak pulse, low BP and signs of “severe metabolic acidosis” – a condition which occurs when the body starts producing too much acid or the kidneys fail to remove enough acid from the body. The doctors even performed a CT scan on the man and to their horror found that there was a 10 cms hole in the lower part of his stomach.
He was immediately operated on and had to spend the next 10 days in intensive care. Following this scary instance the patient who is recovering now has given up drinking completely.
Meanwhile, the police are awaiting the victim to lodge a complaint in this regard so they can identify the pub and initiate action against them. They are also checking with hospital administration to get the person’s details in order to approach him.
“The victim should approach us since it is a four month old incident,” said senior police officer Manish Sehgal adding that it is very serious issue if pub’s staff offered cocktail with soda mixed with liquid nitrogen.
Liquid nitrogen is often used at bars, pubs because it can quickly chill glasses, freeze ingredients or provide the smoky effect -when combined with alcohol, the gas, in liquid form, adds a halo or steam or vapour -a smoky effect that has become trendy over recent years, popular in the way that cocktails that are set alight were a few years ago.
In 2012, an MP in the United Kingdom started a campaign asking for a complete ban on cocktails that use liquid nitrogen.
