Compassion for a hungry stray kitten led to a nip on the finger — and also took a bite out of Jeannette Parker’s wallet.
In a rural area just outside Florida’s Everglades National Park, Parker spotted the cat wandering along the road. It looked skinny and sick, and when Parker, a wildlife biologist, offered up some tuna she had in her car, the cat bit her finger.
“It broke my skin with his teeth,” she recalls.
After cleaning off the wound, she did some research and began worrying about rabies since Miami-Dade County had warnings about that potentially fatal disease in effect at the time.
She then drove back to her home in the Florida Keys and called the health department, but it was closed.
So she headed to the emergency room at Mariners Hospital, not far from her house. She spent about two hours in the emergency room, got two types of injections and an antibiotic and says she never talked with a doctor.
“I went home happy as a clam,” she said.
Then the bills came.
Patient: Jeannette Parker, a 44-year-old state fish-and-wildlife biologist. Insured through the American Postal Workers Union because her husband works for the federal government at Everglades National Park.
Total bill: $48,512, with $46,422 of that total for one preventive medication
Cat Bites The Hand That Feeds; Hospital Bills $48,512
Photo: Angel Valentín for KHN
Always proceed stray animals with caution because it can result in a trip to the hospital, but it should not be that expensive 😬
