I've experienced this during a previous illness. My suspicion is that some of it is caused by withdrawal from alcohol. Many people drink a lot and when enteri

I've experienced this during a previous illness. My suspicion is that some of it is caused by withdrawal from alcohol. Many people drink a lot and when entering a hospital ICU you are suddenly a teetotaler. This, in combination with opiates, seems like a recipe for delirium. Maybe there is no other recourse, certainly giving a patient alcohol while using opiates in an ICU seems like a bad idea, although clinicians are used to carefully maintaining balances of drug combinations. This also seems like an area where research is not being funded, similar to how research into finding a cure for the ill effects of alcohol on the body is not funded. There is a strong streak of misplaced moralism in medicine that has been present for decades if not centuries, that I believe inclines doctors to think such bad effects are punishment for drinking in the first place and hence letting people suffer is just. I hope I'm wrong.