KESQ (Palm Desert, California) 17 June 06 Close call for young son of 'Venom ER' doctor (Sheryl Kahn)
It's that time of year when you should be on the lookout for rattlesnakes. One expert knows first hand how frightening it can be. We have more on a close call for the young son of a doctor who specializes in venomous snakebites.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Jude Bush is not feeling very well. He's recovering from a cold and a rattlesnake bite.
Snakebites are not uncommon in the Yucaipa Hills where Jude lives. But it is uncommon the son of one of the foremost authorities on poisonous snakebites is bitten in his own backyard. Jude says he wanted to put the snake in a cage like his dad does for research. When he grabbed it, it bit him.
"I couldn't believe it happened to us and that it happened so fast," said Jude's mom, A'me Bush. "They had just been out here for five or six minutes."
Jude's dad, Dr. Sean Bush, is a snakebite specialist at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He's also the star of the Discovery Channel reality series "Venom ER". When the call about his own son came, Dr. Bush was busy taking care of other victims. After Jude was airlifted to the hospital, Dr. Bush treated him. As a father, knowing all he does about snakebites, he says it was terrifying.
"It can make you bleed, it can paralyze you . . . it can even kill you."
Jude was hospitalized and monitored while the anti venom did its job. He says he learned his lesson.
"I'm gonna tell mommy and daddy . . . I'm not gonna touch it again."
When Jude was up to it, he helped release the snake into the wild. There appear to be no hard feelings.
Dr. Bush says the close call makes him even more sensitive to what his patients' families are going through, because now, he really does know how they feel.
Close call for young son of 'Venom ER' doctor

[ Show Entire Thread ]