Medicine: Dialysis v. Poison

TV Engineer Alan Adair, 30, unhappily divorced and tired of life, parked his car alongside Los Angeles' Ballona Creek one evening and washed down a handful of barbiturate sleeping pills with milk. Then he made notes: "7:26. Now I wonder how long it will take ... 7:31. Everyone wonders what it is like to die. I'm going to find out. 7:39. I can barely see." When police spotted the car at 2:45 a.m., Adair was in a deep coma. Fortunately, his record told doctors at Santa Monica Hospital how much barbiturate he had taken, and the empty pill bottle told...

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