Two EMT First Responders May Lose Their License After Saving Man From Lethal Snake Bite

100 Percent Fed Up ^ | September 29, 2025 | Staff

[Red Badger]

If these 2 Powell County Kentucky first responders lose their licenses for lack of "wilderness certification," then @StateofKy is more screwed up than just their gov, sens, & reps
EMTs Under Fire for Treating Man with Antivenom After He Was Bitten by Snake https://t.co/nbVHylTFQY— Rita Rutherford (@ritatow) September 29, 2025

[Ben Dover]

Reminds me of an old snake joke.

[dljordan]

Mamba snake?

[Red Badger]

Lone Ranger & Tonto?..................

[Red Badger]

a poisonous mamba snake!...................Like there is a non-poisonous one..........

[Red Badger]

a poisonous mamba snake!...................Like there is a non-poisonous one..........

[Red Badger]

a poisonous mamba snake!...................Like there is a non-poisonous one..........

[NorthMountain]

And thus is revealed the difference between "competent" and "qualified".

"Qualified" is a bureaucratic designation, a piece of paper signed by a professional paper-pusher.

"Competent" means "able to do the job" .

This paramedic was clearly competent, regardless of any piece of paper, or lack thereof.

[Gen.Blather]

Probably the EMT’s were required to take a course for X dollars to get the certification. If they are allowed to use the treatment without getting the certification then the certification will not really be a requirement and that source of revenue will disappear. Therefore, they must be punished to force others to get the certification. In all cases, follow the money.

[NorthMountain]

It's in the article:

paramedic Eddie Barnes and one of his team members were called to the Kentucky Reptile Zoo in May after the zoo’s co-director, James Harrison, was bitten

[LukeL]

I thought anyone can work under an MD’s license . Only caveat is that the MD takes on the liability. Otherwise no med student could do any work.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Mambo Italiano.

[Big Red Badger]

“You gonna Die!”

[tumblindice]

‘Doctor says yer gonna die.’?

[KingLudd]

Snakes are venomous not poisonous.

[Dahoser]

The paramedics did not bring the anti-venom with them. The zoo director did. I know the article is sympathetic to them as I am, but they didn't bring it which is a big point in their favor that they weren't doing cowboy medicine:

Barnes told the outlet that he and his teammate went with Harrison to the airport to wait for a medical helicopter. While they were waiting, Harrison told them he needed antivenom as soon as possible — and that he had brought his own from the zoo.

What would you or any reasonable person expect them to do when this zoo director, who knows the situation he's in, says I'm going to die and I need you to use this anti-venom that I have brought? They call the ER and get permission which is again more proof they weren't doing cowboy medicine. Were they supposed to say, "Well you know what Mr. Zoo Director, we're not qualified so we're going to let you die?"

Again, the article is sympathetic but it's not accurate in a very key detail.

[Publius]

Green and black mambas are indigenous to Africa. What is one doing in Kentucky?

[Red Badger]

Some people keep exotics as pets...............In Florida you must have a license for exotic animals...........

[NorthMountain]

"Well you know what Mr. Zoo Director, we're not qualified so we're going to let you die?"

According to the bureaucratic rules, that's EXACTLY what they're supposed to do.