Student dies after binge to celebrate 21st birthday

A university student celebrating her 21st birthday died after consuming about 16 shots, reports the Des Moines Register.

Lydia Gale Clark, a junior at Drake College in Iowa began celebrating her birthday on Oct. 7 at 9:30 p.m. Any Americans aged 21 years or older are allowed to drink alcoholic beverages.

By the time Clark finished a six-hour marathon of drinking alcohol, she began to feel dizzy. Her childhood friend, Ivey Bruton who drank together, said, “She was stumbling a bit, but I’ve seen people way more drunk than that.” Therefore, Bruton, a Kansas University junior, did not seek any medical attention for Clark.

The police reported that Clark felt ‘very sick’ when she woke up on 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. At noon, she told her roommate about her pain and asked for help to go to the bathroom. When the roommate checked up on her a few minutes later, she found Clark lying on the floor and gasping for air.

The roommate called the ambulance and performed CPR on her. The female student was sent to a nearby hospital, but doctors could not revive her.

It is customary among college students to drink alcoholic beverages heavily on the day when they turn 21, a serious issue. Still shocked by the sudden death of his daughter, Brad Clark said, “I don’t get this rite of passage where these kids think you have to do 21 shots. I mean, holy cow.”

The autopsy of Clark showed the obvious level of alcohol in her blood and abnormal heart tissues, which could be another cause of her death. The abnormal tissues were sent to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for further testing and the result will be confirmed in six to eight weeks.