A father has tragically passed away after he accepted a challenge to drink the 21 cocktails that his hotel offered on their menu.
Timothy Southern, 53, was enjoying a vacation in Jamaica with his family at the Royal Decameron Club Caribbean in Saint Ann.
The man from Staffordshire in the UK had been challenged to drink all 21 cocktails that the hotel had on offer, and he attempted to do it, as reported by ITV News.
The 53-year-old consumed 12 cocktails before he decided to stop and go back to his hotel room. Sadly, he was later found deceased.
Emma Serrano, a Staffordshire area coroner, has ruled that Southern's tragic passing was alcohol-related.
A pathologist from Kingston in Jamaica gave the cause of death as acute gastroenteritis due to alcohol consumption.
An inquest into Southern's death in 2022 heard that he had been drinking during the morning of his passing, and then he met two Canadian women who were taking on the challenge of drinking the 21 cocktails before midnight, in celebration of one of their birthdays.
During the inquest, Southern's family hit out at the quality of care he received in his hotel room, and criticized the attempts of those who tried to revive him.
"He was on his back choking. I put him in the recovery position and screamed for an ambulance," a family member said. "He was making a gurgling sound. As soon as he was in the recovery position he vomited. I was shouting his name with no response."
They continued: "When the nurse arrived I said had an ambulance been called and she said no. I thought she would take over. But that was not the case. I noticed he was starting to lose temperature. I checked his pulse and couldn't find it.
"She said he had a pulse. I was starting to lose it. I got a full look at his face and I thought he had passed away. I said don't just sit there looking at him, start CPR. She only gave him chest compressions. Maybe if she had known what she was doing, maybe he would still be here."
The heartbroken family member concluded: "The service and treatment he received was disgusting."
The family started a GoFundMe page in order to raise money to transport his body back to the UK.
The fundraising page reads: "After doing some digging to find information about his insurance we have found out that he's not actually covered by his bank (as he had originally thought). This leaves us with an impossibly large amount of money to find in order to bring him home and pay for his funeral."
At the time of writing, the fundraiser has generated £9300 ($11,800) from an intended target of £15,000 ($19,000). The family has stated that any leftover funds will go to the mental health charity, Mind.
Our thoughts are with Southern's family during this heartbreaking time.
