notes was abstracted using a standardized
background of chronic alcohol consumption,7–33 collection form. Once the complete data set had
although in the majority of these reports the amount been collected, it was analysed by a non-clinical
drunk is poorly documented and substantiated. statistician who was blinded to the aetiological
Zimmerman and Maddrey in proposing the term relationships and hypotheses being tested. These
‘therapeutic misadventure’ for such cases, reported methods have been subsequently described and
that in 40% of their series and in 23% of the validated by Gilbert et al.41 Seven cases were
literature cases at that time, which included many excluded from analysis because either the history
of the case reports referred to above, hepatotoxicity and/or the documentation with respect to alcohol
had developed following ingestion of a therapeutic consumption was considered to be unreliable, leavdose
of paracetamol (