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When to Seek Medical Care

If all Home Care conditions cannot be assured, if a care-taking person feels uncomfortable monitoring the intoxicated person, or if there is doubt about the person’s condition, then bring the person to a hospital's emergency department. In addition, the person may need attention to chronic medical conditions unrelated to the alcohol intoxication. These could be such conditions as diabetes, renal (kidney) failure, or epilepsy (seizures).

NOTE: It is extremely common for an intoxicated person to vomit once. However, vomiting more than once may be a sign of head injury or other cause of serious illness. If a drunken person vomits more than once and is not completely coherent, then he or she should be taken to the hospital's emergency department for evaluation.