How are blood alcohol levels reported for legal purposes?
The universally accepted blood alcohol concentration results for legal purposes are reported in percent weight/volume units or g/dL truncated to 2 decimal places. The level of ethanol in blood equating to intoxication differs by state and country statute.
What is the normal level of ethanol in the blood?
Ethanol (Alcohol; Ethyl Alcohol) Level (serum) Description Quantitative measurement of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) in the blood for the assessment of recent ethanol (“alcohol”) ingestion. Ethanol is one of the most well known depressants of the central nervous system and is commonly abused. Reference Range Normal findings: 0-50 mg/dL or 0%-0.05%
What happens if your blood alcohol level is over 0.40%?
0.40% and over: This level may put you in a coma or cause sudden death because your heart or breathing will suddenly stop. What is a Moderate Level of Alcohol Consumption?
What do you need to know about forensic toxicology of alcohol?
The forensic toxicology of alcohol, including its absorption, distribution and elimination and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) calculations, is briefly discussed in this report. Alcohol is a depressant drug and can impair human performance at BACs as low as 20 mg/100mL.
What should your blood alcohol level be if you are intoxicated?
Blood alcohol level results may be given in different ways, including percentage of blood alcohol content (BAC). Typical results are below. Sober: 0.0 percent BAC; Legally intoxicated:.08 percent BAC; Very impaired:.08–0.40 percent BAC. At this blood alcohol level, you may have difficulty walking and speaking.
Ethanol (Alcohol; Ethyl Alcohol) Level (serum) Description Quantitative measurement of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) in the blood for the assessment of recent ethanol (“alcohol”) ingestion. Ethanol is one of the most well known depressants of the central nervous system and is commonly abused. Reference Range Normal findings: 0-50 mg/dL or 0%-0.05%
What does it mean when your blood alcohol level is negative?
The serum drug screen for alcohol showed a negative result, indicating that the positive ethanol level recorded by the breath analyzer was false positive due to interference of methanol. As expected, the patient’s serum methanol level was 589 mg/dL, but the serum ethylene glycol level was less than 5 mg/dL.
What are the results of a blood alcohol test?
What do the results mean? 1 Sober: 0.0 percent BAC 2 Legally intoxicated: .08 percent BAC 3 Very impaired: .08–0.40 percent BAC. At this blood alcohol level, you may have difficulty walking and speaking. 4 At risk for serious complications: Above .40 percent BAC. At this blood alcohol level, you may be at risk for coma or death.