During the summer of 2003, 48 snake-bite patients were treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center. All the bites were from one of the six different species of rattlesnakes that inhabit Southern California. The British Broadcasting Corporation focused on the treatment of those bites for the first season of an Animal Planet series called “Venom ER.” The documentary show aired the first of 10 episodes on March 30.

Focusing on the treatment snake bite patients receive at the emergency department, where envenomation specialist Sean Bush, M.D., has practiced emergency medicine for the past 10 years, the show follows patients' stories by re-enacting the bite and detailing their treatment at LLUMC. In an interview with the Press-Enterprise, a local Southern California newspaper, Bush tried to describe the series.

“I can sit here and tell you what happened, but it's not the same as seeing it,” said Bush. “The first two hours are very, very scary and very dramatic.” The first two episodes covered seven stories, including that of Ralph Prado, a circus performer who came in with the worst snake bite the emergency staff had ever seen, but made a remarkable recovery, and the tragic loss of Ross Cooke, who died of complications from the rattlesnake bite he received while hiking.

Besides the flare for the dramatic, the show aims at educating viewers on how to respect the reptiles that share, in many cases, back yards with Southern Californians. Most experts agree that all snake bites could be reduced by half if people would just leave snakes alone. The Loma Linda University Medical Center emergency department serves 40,000 square miles of desert, forests and homes, where housing developments are constantly pushing into the snakes' long-time habitats. This close proximity makes confrontations between humans and these reptiles inevitable, as snakes seek shelter in garages, wood piles around houses, and other unexpected hiding areas. But these encounters don't need to turn into a trip to the “Venom ER.”

The advice Bush gave to groups of elementary school-aged children at the Children's Day event in Loma Linda holds true for everyone: if you come across a rattlesnake, take two giant steps back.

The series was filmed by the BBC's WildVision department over a span of five months at the Medical Center in 2003. The team filmed areas ranging from the emergency department and admitting units to the pharmacy and waiting rooms, as well as locales from around Southern California.