Extreme? Certainly. Experimental? Highly. Worth it? Plummer certainly seemed to think so, after finding himself still unable to give up the hooch after a liver transplant in 2014.  The brain surgery is somewhat damned with faint praise. Doctor Plummer stated that the implants didn’t fully remove his compulsion to drink, but seemed to ease it. He said that he never went completely sober, but wasn’t drinking every day and usually stopped at “three or four” drinks. So, baby steps.

By Plummer’s reckoning, his alcoholism stemmed from one of his most noteworthy accomplishments. During the 1980s, he was a pioneer of HIV/AIDS research, helping to determine that the human immunodeficiency virus could be transmitted to children from their mother’s breast milk and discovering natural immunity to the virus in sex workers in Nairobi. He claimed that the death and suffering which he witnessed during his research led to his problems with alcohol dependency.

Ultimately, the long-term effects of Plummer’s deep brain stimulation treatments will go undetermined, as the BBC reports that he passed away on February 4th, 2020 at age 67 while at a celebration in Kenya. His death was reportedly the result of a heart attack.