Religious bias infected a hospital's emergency treatment of a Kentucky woman who had been bitten while handling a rattlesnake during a church service, the woman's family alleges in an unusual wrongful-death suit.

Linda Faye Long, 48, died about three hours after a large timber rattlesnake bit her on the cheek at East London Holiness Church in London, Ky. Church members were handling the snake as part of a Sunday evening service on Nov. 5, 2006.

Snake-handling is a misdemeanor in Kentucky, but police rarely pursue charges. And Long's husband and daughter are suing only Marymount Medical Center, the Catholic hospital where she was taken from the church for emergency treatment.

The complaint seeks not only damages for medical malpractice but also for the “undue emotional pain” allegedly suffered by Long and her family as a result of the “unprofessional, derogatory and humiliating comments” that an ER nurse, Faith Howard, made about her religion.

“The medical treatment, or lack thereof, and discrimination with intentional infliction of emotional pain, by Howard, ... fell below the standard of acceptable medical care,” the suit says.

According to the plaintiffs, Howard initially engaged Long in “a lengthy and time consuming series of questions that far exceeded the scope of simply gathering medical information to treat Linda Long's venomous bite.”

Then, with Long complaining she could not breathe and requesting oxygen,

A portable, oscillating fan was given to her by Howard and other personnel of Marymount as they snickered and made derogatory comments to other hospital personnel and the Long family about the religious beliefs and circumstances under which Linda Long was bitten by the snake.

A snakebite expert writing in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services describes “Direct face, tongue and neck bites” from a snake as “imminent airway emergencies” and recommends that the airway “be addressed early in these cases.”

At 8:28 p.m. -- about 20 minutes after Long's admission -- Marymount did request an air ambulance to transport her to the University of Kentucky Medical Center. But after the helicopter crew arrived at 8:40 p.m. and asked the ER physician, Dr. Edward Wilson, to intubate her airway, he allegedly “disagreed with their request, stating that her airway was not a problem” and instructing the crew to “expedite” her transfer.

By the time she arrived at UK, Long had "coded" (meaning, she was in imminent danger of dying), her family says. She was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m.

Snake-handling derives from Mark 16:17-18, which says believers “will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all.” No matter how ridiculous the practice may seem, Long certainly did not deserve to have a nurse add insult to her injury.

But Howard's alleged snickering is likely to matter less in the litigation than her act of giving Long the portable fan. Did that fall below the standard of care for treating someone experiencing respiratory distress after a snake bite to the face?

Marymount has told the London Sentinel Echo newspaper that Long was treated appropriately and was transferred to UK “in a timely manner in accordance with the law and the hospital’s policies.”

By Matthew Heller
11/23/07