[Mrluvaluva]

A teenager being treated for liver failure after a binge-drinking session left his hospital bed to go to the pub, it has emerged.

Still in his slippers, holding the needle of a drip in his hand and wearing his hospital name band, 19-year-old Garath Anderson tried to order a pint at the bar.

The teenager, who doctors say could have just two weeks to live, was recently transferred from Ulster Hospital near Belfast to a specialist liver unit at Kings College Hospital in London.

BinHis father, Brian Anderson, is planning to launch a judicial review to try to overturn NHS guidelines which mean his son has to be alcohol free for six months before he can get a liver transplant.

Staff at the Old Moat Inn opposite the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald revealed that last week they refused Garath's order, alerted the hospital and took him back.

Manager Lorraine McMillan said: "He was very young and didn't look very well. He asked for a pint or possibly a vodka.

"He was refused a drink and he said that was OK he would take a coke."

His father, who has been at his son's bed side almost constantly since he was admitted to hospital, responded with exasperation.

"I don't know what he was thinking about, I don't think he knows," he said.

"He said 'I don't know why I did it, I just walked out and walked across to the pub'."

He said his son first told him he had a coke, but when pressed admitted trying to order alcohol first.

"I said 'What were you thinking about son' and he said ' I don't know, I just don't know'."

Mr Anderson said he was trying to get his son psychiatric help.

Garath suffered acute liver failure earlier this month after drinking 30 cans of lager on a weekend and had to be rushed to hospital.

Although it is common medical practice in the UK to insist that liver patients go without a drink for six months before going on the transplant waiting list, it is only a guideline and not a rule.

Mr Anderson insists the policy should apply to older patients with chronic alcoholism, not a teenager who has never before needed medical treatment for a drink-related illness.


SKY