[Fatal intoxication following rectal instillation of alcohol]

A 62-year old man who had been living on a remote farm was found dead in his bed. Inserted in his rectum was a synthetic flexible tube filled with brandy (43 vol. %) and connected to a bicycle pump. Samples taken during autopsy from 3 different parts of the body showed ethanol concentrations from 4.87% to 5.35% in the blood and 6.73% in the urine. The ethanol concentrations in the small and large intestine were considerably higher (more than 29%) than in the stomach (9%). The decreased had a tumor as large as a tennis ball on the base of his tongue, almost completely filling the oropharynx, making swallowing very difficult, which probably was the reason of the rectal instillation of alcohol. The report deals with this unusual case of rectal alcohol instillation, and with the different ethanol and congener alcohol concentrations in the body fluids.