Last August, while on vacation in Northern Arizona,United States, a bat flew into the mouth of a Massachusetts resident, resulting in hospital expenditures of around $21,000.
At Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,Erica Kahn, 33 at the time, was taking night sky photos when the tragedy happened. As a precaution, her father, a doctor, suggested she get rabies shots even though she didn’t feel bitten, KFF Health News reports.
Part of the bat ended up in her mouth as she screamed. She guesses it was only a few seconds, although she is unsure of the exact portion and duration.
Kahn began rabies preventive therapy at a Flagstaff, Arizona, hospital the next day. The remaining rabies vaccinations were administered to her over the course of the following two weeks in a Colorado hospital and clinics in Arizona and Massachusetts.Then, even though the insurance coverage was bought online, the staggering $21,000 bill arrived.
