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The hospital bill for his treatment? $153,161.25, with $83,341.25 of that attributed to antivenin and other pharmacy costs. The media is lapping it up, with the Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham saying that the bill for Fassler’s snakebite shows everything that is wrong with the American health care system.
Snake venom (even the non lethal types) is nasty nasty stuff
Much more potent (to adult Humans) than Spider or Jellyfish venom.....You can easily die or be extremely injured from Snake venom where as most Black Widow bites in Adult humans are relatively minor....
Spiders never kill more than like 1-10 people worldwide each year where as Snakes are responsible for literally tens of thousands of deaths each year worldwide....
"Right off the bat if you stop and you leave that snake alone you're going to eliminate 70 to 75 percent of the bites, now 60 percent of those involved alcohol, so there you go,"
"The objective was to study the intent of exposure to snakes and other factors contributing to snakebite injuries ..... Twenty-four males and six females ranging in age from 2 to 93 years sustained bites from a variety of snakes including rattlesnakes, copperheads, and Egyptian cobra, and others. Sixty-seven percent (20/30) of all bites resulted from intentional exposures to snakes: professional snake handlers (7), snake hunts (8), and playing with (aggravating) snakes in the wild (5). Sixty-five percent (13/20) of intentional exposures involved novices in a recreational/home setting, and 35% (7/20) occurred in an occupational setting. Unintentional exposures occurred while victims were walking in wooded areas, fishing by streams, gardening, and washing dishes indoors. Forty percent (12/30) of all victims had consumed alcohol before the snakebite, 92% (11/12) of whom were nonprofessionals with intentional exposures. Only eight victims (seven of whom were professional handlers) were using protective equipment. I concluded that the majority of snakebite injuries resulted from intentional exposures to snakes in which a variety of factors such as the use of alcohol and lack of protective equipment likely played a role."
There was a guy visiting from Europe last year here that got bitten by a rattlesnake, accidentally, (not being a complete idiot like this guy), and got hit up with a similar bill which prompted his, and honestly just about everyone's remarking about the utter lunacy of hospital billing practices in this country. Fortunately he bought travel insurance so the back room negotiations took over and who knows what pennies on the dollar it was settled for.
Video says this same man was released from the hospital just two weeks ago from another snake bite. Apparently he doesn't learn very well. Maybe the bill will help him remember the next time he gets near a snake, but I doubt it.
People are stupid ......
"Right off the bat if you stop and you leave that snake alone you're going to eliminate 70 to 75 percent of the bites, now 60 percent of those involved alcohol, so there you go,"
Never mess with a snake who's been drinking. It makes them meaner than hell.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ditchoc
Video says this same man was released from the hospital just two weeks ago from another snake bite. Apparently he doesn't learn very well. Maybe the bill will help him remember the next time he gets near a snake, but I doubt it.
The morons who practice snakehandling religions down here in the South get bitten on a regular basis, and keep going back for more. There's not much you can do in the face of the kind of stupidity, other than to just let things follow their natural course of action and let them kill themselves off (preferably before they reach breeding age, for the good of the species as a whole.)
from the ever poetic nelson muntz (the simpsons) HA HA!
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