When you’re bitten by a snake, it’s easy to panic and do things that don’t really make sense. For example, in the story of a person who cuts his finger after being bitten by a snake and is then told that there was no need for it because the snake in question was “not that venomous”…
But no matter how much you panic, you probably don’t try to do something as weird as in this case: Connect yourself to a car battery and turn it on for a full five minutes.
In the report, “Failure of Electric Shock Treatment in Rattlesnake Venom,” doctors detail how an Arizona man tried the unusual method after being bitten for the 15th time by his pet rattlesnake.
The report, published by the team, states that the application of high-voltage, low-current electric shocks to rattlesnake bites was touted as a concept before it received moderate media coverage. The evidence in favor of electrifying snakebite wounds was anecdotal and was ineffective when tested on animals.
The 28-year-old snake owner had treated rattlesnake bites with an antidote before studying this technique, but had reacted badly and went into anaphylactic shock. He tried an alternative treatment, this time when the snake bit his face near his lip.
The team case report states that “the patient and his neighbor had formed an advance plan to administer electric shock therapy if he was poisoned again, based on information from an article in a wildlife journal.” The report continues: “The patient was placed supine on the side of a car and a wire with a small clip at each end was attached to a spark plug wire to his upper lip. The engine was started and brought to 3,000 rpm in succession for about five minutes. With the first electric current, the patient lost consciousness.”
Fifteen minutes later, an ambulance arrived at the scene and found the unconscious patient with symptoms of low blood pressure, slow breathing, and swelling in his face, neck, and chest.
After being hospitalized, he was kept under close surveillance while being treated for bites and subsequent electrocution for four days. He was discharged after receiving further treatment for serum sickness from the antidote, but returned to the hospital for reconstructive surgery due to tissue loss in his upper lip.
“Despite many trials, researchers in the United States have not been able to demonstrate any beneficial effect of electric shock therapy, even when administered under ideal conditions,” the team said in a statement. Despite this, it is emphasized that before 1990, before being banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 7,000 stun guns designed to “treat” snake bites were sold in the United States.
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