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UK toddler, 3, treated for alcoholism

15/03/2011 7:50:00 AM, Health Hub Stafff Prev Next

A three-year-old child in Britain has been treated in hospital for alcoholism.

The child is believed to have been given alcohol regularly over a period of six months.

Health managers would not give details of the child's condition citing patient confidentiality, but the child is thought to be the country's youngest alcoholic, the Press Association reports.

"We treat alcohol abuse very seriously and have specialist teams and experts on hand who are there to treat young patients with alcohol-related problems," a spokeswoman for the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust said.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the trust, which runs hospitals in Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield and Solihull, treated more than 70 children for alcohol abuse between 2008 and 2010.

The minors, between the ages of 13 to 16, were admitted for alcohol-related emergency treatment, and a further 106 teenagers were treated for addiction to alcohol during the same period.

Chris Sore, from the alcohol awareness charity Drinkaware, said under-age drinking needed to be tackled more than ever.

"Any child requiring hospital treatment for alcohol-related illness is a cause for great concern — not just because of the short-term risks associated with under-age drinking such as accidents, but also the long-term risks such as disrupted brain development."

User comments

These parents need to be hung out to dry. What hangovers this poor kid had. There brain is going to have some sort of damage. The parents should never be allowed to have or look after other kids.

Poor child! to be given alcohol at such a young age is so disturbing!.what the ........ is Wrong with these people!!The parents or whoever is caring? or not caring for this child They too should be treated, fined or something.

takes underage drinking to a whole new level, disgusting and appalling

The parents Must be sitting in jail for this surely. That is so so wrong.

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