Dedicated to my diabetic friend who (after having spent the past couple weeks fighting a cold and a stomach virus) spent this past weekend in the ICU after docs discovered he was severely dehydrated and his blood sugar level was 700! Luckily, his outcome was favorable and he is now at home recovering.

How is the number 700 arrived at. I am level 2 diabetic and worry when my reading is over 10. As you say, the body gets out the sugar under stress ( I once was worried that my reading was high after my daily exercise) and so understand some of your friends problem. Your point about regular testing is most important.
But the number 7000?

Ah, I forget that the US is not in sync with the rest of the world regarding measurements... His random blood glucose test came in at 700 mg/dL which would equate to approximately 38.89 mmol/l. Even if you've recently eaten and your blood sugar level is at its peak, your random blood sugar level shouldn't be higher than 200 mg/dL.

mmol/l is millimoles/liter, and is the world standard unit for measuring glucose in blood. Specifically, it is the designated SI (Systeme International) unit. "World standard", of course, means that mmol/L is used
everywhere in the world except in the US.
Source:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/diabetes/faq/part1/section-9.html