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Ditch the Snake Before ER Trip

It's one of several items emergency-room docs don't appreciate seeing

By Sarah Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 9, 2008 5:37 AM CST

(Newser) – Yes, your doctor wants to know everything about you. But that doesn't mean he needs to see it, physician Edwin Leap writes on his blog. Here are a few things he'd prefer emergency-room patients leave at home:

The snake that bit you: "Irrational? Probably. But phobias are phobias."
Anything that comes out either end. Got it?

Your sick pet. Hit the vet instead.
Your wife and girlfriend/husband and boyfriend—at the same time. "Always a prescription for trouble."
A cell phone video camera. No filming other patients.

For the full list of ER no-nos, click the link below.

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

An ambulance rushes down Broadway in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Leave it home and have it mounted by a taxidermist, one emergency-room doc recommends to snakebite patients. (AP Photo)

Sick pets should go to the vet, not the ER. (AP Photo)

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I promise I’ll believe you if you say you coughed up: blood, pus, bits of tissue or even a fur-ball. Odds are, you’ll cough it up again. - Dr. Edwin Leap

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Ditch the Snake Before ER Trip