After a night of drinking at a party, your roommate appears to have passed out. He is seated at the end of a couch, slumped sideways on the armrest. The fingers of one hand are wrapped around the neck of a half-empty beer bottle, which also leans against the armrest. It’s 2 a.m.

You are tired and want to go home. You gently shake him to see if he will awaken but he does not. You are a little relieved because he was getting pretty obnoxious before he passed out, and it would likely be a struggle to get him home. You ask the people you came with—some sober, some not—for help. The consensus of the group is that because he’s breathing, it is probably okay to leave him on the couch for the night. While your friends grab him under the arms and lay him on his side on the couch in case he vomits, you find a pillow and blanket for him. You alert the few remaining partygoers, all people you know fairly well, that you will return for him in the morning.

A passed-out drunk is safe as long as he is breathing and placed on his side.

Questions

1. If your friend had been drinking steadily all night, then had two shots of alcohol right before passing out, what is the minimum amount of time before his body will have metabolized the last two drinks he had?
2. If your friend is breathing now, is there any guarantee he will be when his blood alcohol concentration peaks?
3. If you are trying to determine whether an intoxicated person is responsive, what might you do, aside from gentle shaking, to get a response?
4. If an intoxicated person is unresponsive, what should you do?
5. Consider your answers to questions 1–4 and explain why the original statement bolded above sounds right, but isn’t.