“They say your gonna die.”
Without some good reasons, I call bull.
She was in the ICU for two days, she’s not dead, her insurance is paying, sounds like a bargain to me.
And THAT is what is wrong with out healthcare system.
Diane Nelson says she was wearing rubber gloves and working in her yard when she came across a Copperhead with a short temper.
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I hate it when they presume to know the snake’s motives.
“Schaffer says the anti-venom is expensive for several reasons. The snakes have to be milked and several types are milked to create a pool of venom”.
They have to use very tiny midgets with excellent eyesight to milk the little udders. They get paid premium wages!
I’ve had one dog and three friends bitten, all seperate occurrences. Two of the friends had to be medevaced to Tucson for treatment, and one was lucky in that his bite was a dry bite. Very expensive, but they didn’t die. (The dog pulled through too!) The doctors wanted to amputate two fingers and a thumb on the one friend, but he wouldn’t let them. Instead he kept wrapping the bite site in split prickly pear cactus for a few weeks until the necrosis stopped and the healing took over.
Within hours she was rushed? Well did she sit around to see if it would get better on its own?
Copperheads, you generally don't see them until after you're bit.
I'm an EMT and current protocol is "Transport to the hospital" only.
All well and good if it can be done but if you're in the woods and it's going to be a long while I'm going to keep the bite lower than the heart, use a constriction band and use ice or cold water.
That's just me.
I know people that have been bitten by both and it's no picnic.
Probably a good idea to carry a bottle of snakebite medicine, preferably made in Kentucky.
Seems like more to the story. A $200K bill for treating a bite from a snake that is rarely fatal?
I have friends in the Cuyahoga Valley Park management. Rangers. They told me there were no Copperheads in North Ohio. I took one of them to an abandoned well head. There were 5 Copperheads in it. They were stunned!
Seems like there is an opportunity for a US company to make antivenom if the only current processing lab is in Australia.
She has insurance. The unedeted bill is $200K the insurance company will end up paying around 30% of the total, if that. Around $60,000. Expensive, but cheap if she values her life.
I have the unfortunate distinction of having first hand knowledge of literally MILLIONS of dollars in hospital bills thanks to a sick child, strange idiopathic diseases and twin boys born eight weeks early. I have BOXES of bills totaling more than $12 million for my son Douglas alone.
the death panel would have let her die
18 doses of a drug that probably costs 2 grand a dose (and prob billed at 5)
ER care.
2 days of critical care.
Extensive lab monitoring.
Given the amount of swelling indicated in the article and the fact that they gave 18 doses of a drug normally given 2-5 times (repeated doses are based on continued symptoms), I’d say this hospital saved her life.
Oh. And they billed $200K which was probably cut to a third by contractual agreement with the insurance company.
The hospital likely made at most 5-10% net.
And they saved her life.
Capitalism is a great thing!
Would 18 doses of CroFab have been avail in a single payer system?
$200K for a couple of days in the ICU?
Sounds pretty cheap to me, given my recent experience:
A couple of months ago, I had a simple, common five minute outpatient procedure.
A few years ago, I had the same thing, and received a single bill for $2,500.00, which I thought was pretty outrageous.
So far on this one, I have received thirteen bills from nine different entities in six states, totaling $27, 342.48.
And they won’t even itemize them to say what they are charging me for. Just “Pay now, (or else)”
Go to a Mexican hospital. They have snake and scorpion anti venom about 1/100 what it costs here. You can survive the plane ride provided you have a passport.
Hospital bills are grossly inflated.
There are the so called “gross” charges, which is likely what this $200,000 consists of. This is the gross revenue for the patient stay.
Then there is the “net revenue” or “net collectible” amount which the hospital expects to actually receive in payment. This amount is generally about 20-30% of the gross charges.
So, in round numbers, 30% of $200,000 is $60,000 that the hospital might expect to actually receive a check for to pay for this patient’s stay. And the insurance company pays the bulk of that.
A good analogy is airline fares. The full coach fare from New York to LA may be in the neighborhood of $1500 to $1800. Yet the price you actually pay can easily be in the area of $300 to $500. Very few people pay actual full coach fare for a plane ticket. And very few people pay that actual full cost which shows up on a gross charge hospital bill.
Experts say you should never try to suck the venom out.
Why not?
In fact, Schaeffer says that could actually make it worse.
Why?
Also, don’t use ice on the bite...
Again, why not?
...and don’t use a tourniquet to keep the venom from spreading.
Once again, why not?
So, basically, don't do anything except "go immediately to the hospital". Brilliant.
How wonderfully informative and explanatory! Is this the sort of garbage that passes for journalism nowadays?
No, it's not.