Yeah, I think the antivenin is a few thousand dollars per vial (that's what my neighbor who's a internal medicine doc told me). Like all biologicals, it's crazy expensive and, for a few years here in southern AZ, there was no supply of it because the only US lab stopped making it. I think most of it is imported from Mexico now.
Either way, I know plenty of people that act like dopes around rattlesnakes and my feeling is this - if you're dumb enough to mess around with them, you deserve the consequences....notice the last thing the guy said in the article - "I won't be playing around with snakes anymore..." Ummm, yeah, YA THINK!
Hahahaha...Jackson Juice.....
For my hospital, it's either 4-6 vial per dose and each dose is in the neighborhood of $50,000
None of my patients were "playing" with snakes. 3 that I can recall:
-Woman in her 80's who cares for great granddaughter occasionally, went into her yard to empty a little plastic baby pool. Did not see a pygmy rattler by the pool, got bit in the ankle. She grabbed a shovel and went searching for the snake, found it, killed it, put it in a bag to bring to the hospital for identification, then woke her sleeping daughter (night shift worker) to take her to the hospital. She was tough as nails!!
-Police officer late 30's-early 40's went to move a case of water that he had in his kitchen, didn't see there was a baby copperhead in the case. Freaks me out to think about it!
-Woman in her early 50's, was in her shed/barn where they keep feed for their animals, not well lit, walking on empty feed bags, stepped on "something". She reached down to pick up whatever she stepped on, it turned out to be a copperhead juvenile. It struck her hand 5 TIMES! The last bite, the snake's fangs were embedded in her hand and she had to pry it off. She then held the snake by the head and the tail over her head and ran into the house to wake her husband (another night shifter) to tell him she was bit but didn't know what kind of snake it was. They put it into an empty aquarium they happened to have in their kitchen and put a lid on it and headed off to the hospital. Her son later went to the house to check on it and snapped a picture, which she shared with me but I no longer have
. The size was impressive and terrifying.
We love when we get snake bite patients as they are usually the nicest people, appreciative of the care they receive and usually quite interesting.
Yes, nurses are a bit warped.
