A two-year-old boy has died after being bitten by a rattlesnake on a family camping trip.
His family members believe his death resulted from hospital negligence rather than the snake bite and have accused doctors at the hospital of negligence.
The boy, identified as Gael Henry Jesus Ribeiro, was bitten by the rattlesnake seen in one of the images.
He was reportedly camping with his family when was bitten by the snake in the municipality of Panorama, in the state of Sao Paulo, in Brazil, on 18th November.
Gael’s elder brother reportedly took the tot to their father after he noticed that a snake had bitten him.
Gael’s father, Jose Ribeiro, killed the snake and then took the dead reptile and his son to the emergency unit of the municipal hospital.
Jose took the snake so that the doctors would know which antivenom to administer.
Ribeiro was reportedly admitted to the hospital at around 7 pm on the day of the snake bite.
The doctor who saw him, who has not been named, allegedly only administered a serum for hydration and antibiotics.
The tot was reportedly only administered an anti-crotal serum at around 7:40 am the next day, some twelve hours after he arrived at the hospital.
Gael was then transferred to a different hospital but sadly did not survive and was later pronounced dead.
Ribeiro and Gael’s elder brother have blamed the first hospital for failing to administer the anti-crotal serum in time.
Vanessa Steluti, the Secretary of the Panorama Health Department, said: “All necessary medications were given.”
But she added: “The child had no symptoms and, on instructions from Butanta, the serum was not applied immediately.”
She also said: “Because the serum, if administered unnecessarily, can cause harm to the patient, such as an anaphylactic shock, for example.
“Gael was transferred in stable condition and the doctor who accompanied the transfer reported that he arrived safely at the hospital in Prudente.”
But medics at the Prudente Regional Hospital on the other hand said that Gael was in a critical condition when he was admitted and was even attended to by a multi-disciplinary team before he died at around 1:02 pm.
The Civil Police are investigating the young boy’s death and his body is set to undergo a postmortem.
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Story By: John Adejumo, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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