One snakebite to the vein costs man $1.3M in hospital bill
Chris Howarth was visiting his parents in Oroville, in Butte County, with his wife Jenny and their three children in May.He stepped outside to check the waterline after a stretch of wet weather, felt something sharp underfoot, and looked down to see the snake. The rest is hospital markup, and it varies by institution rather than by dose.The Howarths do not yet know their share after insurance.The case falls inside an unusually early California snake season. The California Poison Control System logged 77 rattlesnake-related calls by mid-May, against a typical 200 for an entire year, and recorded three fatal encounters, which medical director Rais Vohra called "highly unusual and deeply concerning."California normally sees about one rattlesnake death annually.
- ▪Chris Howarth was visiting his parents in Oroville, in Butte County, with his wife Jenny and their three children in May.He stepped outside to check the waterline after a stretch of wet weather, felt something sharp underfoot, and looked do
- ▪The rest is hospital markup, and it varies by institution rather than by dose.The Howarths do not yet know their share after insurance.The case falls inside an unusually early California snake season.
- ▪The California Poison Control System logged 77 rattlesnake-related calls by mid-May, against a typical 200 for an entire year, and recorded three fatal encounters, which medical director Rais Vohra called "highly unusual and deeply concerni
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Chris Howarth was visiting his parents in Oroville, in Butte County, with his wife Jenny and their three children in May.He stepped outside to check the waterline after a stretch of wet weather, felt something sharp underfoot, and looked down to see the snake. It struck twice on his lower right leg, once shallowly and once into a vein, as reported by SFGATE.Within minutes his tongue had gone numb, his lymph nodes had swollen and he was struggling to breathe.His wife Jenny drove him to Oroville Hospital, where he received his first dose of antivenom about an hour after the bite.
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