History Main / HealItWithBooze

-->'''Phoebus:''' Great, I could use a drink. ''[cries in pain as she pours it on wound]'' [=AAAH!=] Yes! Hmmm. Feels like a 1470 Burgundy. Not a good year.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017''. In "The Dark Hearts Of Men", after surviving a brutal fight with his former colleagues in a Neo-Nazi group, Pilgrim removes a packet of cocaine from one of their bodies and snorts it before his painful AfterActionPatchup which includes resetting a dislocated jaw. Unfortunately this causes him to [[HookersAndBlow fall back into old habits]].

* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', Krista pours a bottle of wine on Reiner's arm after a Titan mauled it. This leads to a sad moment [[spoiler:when Gerger finds the bottle and tries to enjoy [[OneLastSmoke One Last Drink]] as a Titan grabs him. He starts crying when he realizes it's empty and demands to know who drank it all.]] It's doubly sad considering [[spoiler:Reiner is actually a Titan Shifter with a HealingFactor, meaning Gerger was denied one last drink for no reason at all.]]
* ''Manga/HighSchoolExcitingStoryTough'': Using a knife, a bottle of whiskey, and a piece of thread Oton dug a bullet out and stitched himself up after he was shot.

* Done in the beginning of Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/TheThing1982''. The Norwegian shoots Bennings in the leg and they're given a flask of booze that they take a swig from before pouring it over the wound.
* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', after being shot through the leg by a Reaver harpoon, Jayne busies himself by pouring his flask over his leg wound... and then taking a swig.
* In ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'', after [[spoiler:Gale]] is whipped bloody by the peacekeepers, Mrs. Everdeen cleans his woulds with some type of clear spirit. Haymitch, being TheAlcoholic, takes a swig from the bottle after she is done.

* ''City Heat'' (1984). A mafia goon who gets ShotInTheAss goes to a BackAlleyDoctor for treatment. The drunken 'doctor' pours booze on his behind to disinfect it, and at that point our protagonists walk in and threaten to literally set his ass on fire if he doesn't talk.

* In ''Film/{{Blooded}}'', Charlie disinfects the laceration on Ben's leg by dousing it with whisky. In the interview, Charlie comments that they didn't have any other disinfectant in the house. Given how otherwise well-equipped they were for a weekend deerstalking, it seems odd they didn't have a first aid kit.
* In ''Film/ColdPrey'', Jannicke uses high proof alcohol to disinfect the compound fracture on Morten's leg where the bone is poking through the skin.
* In ''Film/HoodedAngels'', Hannah is shot is in the arm while escaping from the bank robbery. When she stops to tend her injuries, she takes a swig from a bottle of high proof liquor to dull the pain and the pours some on the wound to disinfect it.

* In ''[[Literature/FalkenbergsLegion West of Honor]]'', the main character gets a minor wound, but due to an alien fungus has to get sent back to base to receive weeks of treatment. He later meets with a Private who was also wounded in the same battle, but got out earlier. It turns out the soldier used Brandy to disinfect the wound.

* Inverted in ''Liquidate Paris'' by Creator/SvenHassel. TheSquad have to do an appendectomy, advised by a doctor who's speaking to them over the radio. At one point the doctor tells them there should be a bottle of sterilizing alcohol in their first aid kit. The soldier who looks says, "There is! If I'd known that before, [[TheAlcoholic it wouldn't still be there!]]"
* After a shootout in ''Literature/NoDealsMrBond'', Literature/JamesBond loses consciousness due to the bite that he received from a trained attack dog. When he comes to, he is sorry to hear that vintage wine from the year 1914 was used to clean the wound.
* Inverted in ''Literature/CarpeJugulum''; Nanny Ogg has a bottle of medicinal alcohol clearly labelled "External use only". She offers it to the Nac Mac Feegle after they dismiss her best [[GargleBlaster scumble]] as "bludy lemonade".
* In the first ''Literature/{{Deverry}}'' novel, Nevyn has to clean Cullyn's wounds with alcohol after a less talented medic allowed them to get infected. Nevyn would later admit that Cullyn was the first man he'd ever met (In 400 years, not that he admitted that part) who hadn't screamed upon getting mead poured into an open wound.
* ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'': At one point in ''Dreadful Company'', Greta needs to treat an infected wound without access to her medical bag. When listing the supplies she'll need, she comments "you almost certainly don't have antiseptic on hand so bring me the highest-proof alcohol you can find."

* In one episode of the Russian TV series ''Dalnoboischiki'' ("Truckers") a provincial doctor complains that he has to use vodka as both disinfectant and anesthetic, since he has no real medical drugs.

* In one episode of the 2007 version of ''Series/{{Flash Gordon|2007}}'', Baylin had taken a bottle of vodka that she had mistaken for water in a decorative container. When she got injured Dale corrected her by pouring it on the wound.
* ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'': Happens multiple times, usually with rum. Harper even christens the cure for a flogging 'Sharpe's Half-and-Half': half a pint in your belly, half a pint on your back.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E21EndOfDays End of Days]]" while patching up the Potentials after a big battle, Andrew and Anya get a bottle of whiskey for this purpose, but end up [[INeedAFreakingDrink drinking it themselves]].
** Likewise in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E8LoversWalk Lovers Walk]]". Vampire Spike passes out dead-drunk after [[DrowningMySorrows his break-up with Drusilla]]. He's woken up the next day when the rising sun sets his hand on fire, so he dunks it in a fountain and flees for his car, where he retrieves a bottle of bourbon among a pile of empties, drenches the injury causing him to shout in pain again, then drinks from the bottle. "[[HumiliationConga This is just too much]]."
* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS03E19ThePrice The Price]]", Fred is infected by a parasite that soaks up all the water in her body--so they force it out by making her drink an entire bottle of vodka.
* A subversion in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'': Dan comes home after he [[spoiler: beats up Fisher, Jackie's abusive boyfriend]]. His hand was hurt in the fight and Roseanne tells him to put alcohol on it. He says "Good idea," and grabs a beer out of the fridge. The two-part episode was a high point in the series.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. [[MissionControl Harold Finch]] winces more than [[ActionGirl Sameen Shaw]] does when he sees her pour alcohol over a bullet wound in her shoulder.
* In the ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' episode "Deckwatch," a SerialKiller is shot in the leg by his latest victim. Afterwards, he hides out under a bridge, pouring whiskey over the wound.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015''
** As a child Matt Murdock had to regularly patch up his boxer father. In the second episode he brings dad a bottle of booze for antiseptic before doing so, but dad tells him to take a sip instead so his hands won't shake.
** Downplayed when Stick demands whiskey after Elektra gets cut with a poisoned weapon--it's just one ingredient in his MagicAntidote. He demands tea as well, but that's [[YouGetMeCoffee just for him to drink afterwards]].

* ''The Straight Dope'' tested this experimentally. It turned out that [[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2978/can-liquor-be-used-as-an-emergency-antiseptic high proof alcohols do indeed work as a disinfectant, but lower proof ones (like beer or wine) don't]].

* ''VideoGame/DarkTales'': Early in ''Ligeia'', you prepare an "antiseptic bandage" to treat a stab wound by pouring an unspecified type of liquor onto a handkerchief.

* ''Film/CityHeat'' (1984). A mafia mook who gets shot in the ass goes to a BackAlleyDoctor for treatment. The drunken 'doctor' pours booze on his behind to disinfect it, and at that point our protagonists walk in and threaten to literally set his ass on fire if he doesn't talk.

** As a child Matt Murdock had to regularly patch up his boxer father. In the second episode he brings dad a bottle of booze before doing so, but dad tells him to take a sip instead so his hands won't shake.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015''. As a child Matt Murdock had to regularly patch up his boxer father. In the second episode he brings dad a bottle of booze before doing so, but dad tells him to take a sip instead so his hands won't shake.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil}}''. As a child Matt Murdock had to regularly patch up his boxer father. In the second episode he brings dad a bottle of booze before doing so, but dad tells him to take a sip instead so his hands won't shake.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. Finch winces more than [[ActionGirl Shaw]] does when he sees her pour alcohol over a bullet wound in her shoulder.

* In ''Film/{{Blooded}}'', Charlie disinfects the laceration on Ben's leg by dousing it with whisky. In the interview, Charlie comments that they didn't have any other disinfectant in the house.

* ''City Heat'' (1984). A mafia mook who gets shot in the ass goes to a BackAlleyDoctor for treatment. The drunken 'doctor' pours booze on his behind to disinfect it, and at that point our protagonists walk in and threaten to literally set his ass on fire if he doesn't talk.

** Both ''Series/{{House}}'' and ''Series/{{Casualty}}'' have used this one.

** In "End of Days" while patching up the Potentials after a big battle, Andrew and Anya get a bottle of whiskey for this purpose, but end up [[INeedAFreakingDrink drinking it themselves]].
** Likewise in "Lovers Walk". Vampire Spike passes out dead-drunk after [[DrowningMySorrows his break-up with Drusilla]]. He's woken up the next day when the rising sun sets his hand on fire, so he dunks it in a fountain and flees for his car, where he retrieves a bottle of bourbon among a pile of empties, drenches the injury causing him to shout in pain again, then drinks from the bottle. "[[HumiliationConga This is just too much]]."
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Fred is infected by a parasite that soaks up all the water in her body--so they force it out by making her drink an entire bottle of vodka.

* In ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Esmeralda uses a bottle of wine on Phoebus' wounds.

* In a ''Website/NotAlwaysHealthy'' story, the poster's friend had gravel embedded deep in his hand after a bike accident. [[https://notalwaysright.com/he-gin-uinely-tried-it/162910/ "Can I just pour some gin on it and be fine?"]]

* Inverted in ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''; Nanny Ogg has a bottle of medicinal alcohol clearly labelled "External use only". She offers it to the Nac Mac Feegle after they dismiss her best [[GargleBlaster scumble]] as "bludy lemonade".

* [[http://www.tbillingsemergencyfanfic.com/closerthanabrother.htm This]] ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic. Even paramedics don't always take enough first aid gear camping with them,and John is mauled by a bear. Roy cleans him up with what he has,but naturally,it isn't enough and John still needs hospital care. Roy eventually finds a group of men on their own campout,but though they help,no one has anything to stop infection. Roy,desperate to stop the infection-which already has John feverish-uses Wild Turkey to dull the pain,then clean the wounds. Not much dulling happened,though,and it was still pure agony for John when the stuff was poured on.

* A subversion in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'': Dan comes home after he [[spoiler: beats up Fisher, Jackie's abusive boyfriend]]. His hand was hurt in the fight and Roseanne tells him to put alcohol on it. He says "Good idea," and [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments grabs a beer out of the fridge]]. The two-part episode was a high point in the series.