Why Snake Bite Victims Should Not Take Snakes to the Hospital

why snake bite victims should not take snakes to the hospital

For a snake bite victim, bringing the snake to the hospital for identification might be common sense, but doctors in Australia believe it’s actually counterproductive to the treatment. Medical experts are asking people not to take their scaly attackers along in the wake of a scare involving a highly-venomous snake.

The incident occurred earlier this month at the Bundaberg Hospital of Queensland, where a patient allegedly brought in an eastern brown snake in a plastic container without adequate safety measures.

“The staff got a fright and the serious consequence of that is it delays people’s time to treatment,” Dr. Adam Michael, director of emergency medicine at the facility, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

“We want people to be able to get seen and assessed quickly and having a live snake in the department slows up that process.”

In the event that you do take the snake that has bitten you to the hospital, it’s still possible for the reptile to go unidentified, according to Dr. Geoff Isbister, a researcher of clinical toxicology at the University of Newcastle.

“It’s pretty dangerous because no one in the hospital will be able to identify it,” the expert said, noting that it’s not uncommon for snake bite victims to bring their less-than-welcome plus ones.

“If that snake gets out in an emergency department, that becomes a huge disaster,” he said.

Isbister further added that although hospital staff aren’t trained to identify snakes, they can run tests to see if patients require antivenom.

“We can determine if you need antivenom and if so, what antivenom you need based on clinical signs, blood tests and also the snake venom detection kits that we keep here at the hospital,” he explained.

Bundaberg Hospital is one of the places that local snake catcher Jonas Murphy is frequently called to for relocating incoming snakes.

His word of advice: “You are risking a follow-up bite and you’re putting everyone around you in danger as well. Snakes are one of those things that scare a lot of people, we definitely don’t want them in the hospital.”