A CORONER has highlighted the dangers of binge drinking following the death of a 26-year-old man from liver disease.
Samuel Lundy, from Mayfield in Cork, developed cirrhosis of the liver despite his young age, after four years of consistent heavy drinking.
Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said the potential damage due to alcohol was shocking. “It’s quite frightening the amount of damage one can do to one’s liver in a relatively short time of drinking excessively.”
The inquest at Cork city coroner’s court heard that after one weekend of binge drinking, fatty changes in the liver can occur, the precursor to permanent damage.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said people do not realise the dangers of excessive drinking, even over a weekend period. “Five pints per day will lead you to severe liver disease and sudden death at any time. You can do this damage in four years of consistent heavy drinking.”
Mr Lundy, who lived as a recluse from his late teens onwards, had taken his first drink aged 15.
From the age of 22, he was living alone and began drinking heavily. He confined himself to the living room of the house, where he kept the curtains closed and the lights turned off.
His mother Charlotte O’Sullivan cared for him, bringing him meals, alcohol and checking on him daily.
“He started off drinking four cans of cider, then six, eight and eventually that escalated to 12 cans per day. He didn’t want to go out, he excluded everybody,” she said.
At the time of his death, Mr Lundy had not left the house in over two years. Two days before his death, Ms O’Sullivan called to her son’s home to check on him. She noticed his skin had turned yellow and he looked ill.
She did an internet search on liver failure in an attempt to learn more about it.
On the day she decided to call an ambulance for her son, he had gone missing from his home.
Mr Lundy was found dead in the front garden of a house seconds away from his mother’s home on the morning of November 16th 2010.
In her autopsy report, Dr Bolster found Mr Lundy to be deeply jaundiced with an extremely enlarged liver showing signs of fatty changes (steatotis) and early cirrhosis. Fatty changes are evidence of an accumulative toxic effect on the liver whereby it cannot break down fats as it works to break down alcohol.
The inquest heard that Mr Lundy’s drinking had dropped dramatically in the four weeks preceding his death and no alcohol or drugs were found in his system.
“The damage caused by fatty changes is reversible over a period of months or years if the drinking stops. But if you do not stop drinking, cirrhosis can develop, which is permanent scarring of the liver and is irreversible,” Dr Bolster said. If there is a genetic susceptibility to liver disease, there is a danger of developing symptoms similar to that of a chronic alcoholic in a relatively short period of time, added Dr Bolster.
The cause of death was alcoholic liver disease with early steatotis and cirrhosis, and Dr Cullinane returned a verdict of death by misadventure.