KNOXVILLE, tenn. — Before an unruly Tennessee party ended with a student hospitalized with a dangerously high blood-alcohol level, most people had probably never heard of alcohol enemas.
Thanks to the drunken exploits of a fraternity at the University of Tennessee, the bizarre way of getting drunk is giving parents, administrators and health-care workers a new fear.
When Alexander “Xander” Broughton, 20, was delivered to the hospital after midnight Sept. 22, his blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.448 percent — more than five times the intoxication that defines drunken driving in the state. Injuries to his rectum led hospital officials to think he had been sodomized.
Police documents show that when an officer interviewed a fellow fraternity member about what happened, the student said the injuries had been caused by an alcohol enema.
While Broughton told police he remembered participating in a drinking game with fellow members of the Pi Kappa Alpha chapter, he denied having had an alcohol enema. Police concluded otherwise from evidence they found at the frat house, including boxes of wine.
“He also had no recollection of losing control of his bowels and defecating on himself,” according to a university police report.
Broughton did not respond to a cellphone message seeking comment Friday.
The university responded with swift investigation and a decision Friday to shutter the fraternity at least until 2015. The national Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity organization accepted the withdrawal of the charter.
Alcohol enemas have been the punch lines of YouTube videos and a song by the punk band NOFX called “Party Enema.”
Corey Slovis, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said going through with the deed can have severe consequences.
“It’s something that offers no advantages, while at the same time risking someone’s life,” he said.
The procedure bypasses the stomach, accelerating the absorption rate, Slovis said. Pouring the alcohol through a funnel can increase the amount of alcohol consumed because it’s hard to gauge how much is going in.
Students walking across campus last week responded with sighs and eye rolls when asked about the allegations.
“It’s like a big joke,” said Erica Davis, a freshman from Hendersonville. “… Who does that?”
