Woman suffering life-threatening allergic reaction forced to pay up front before nurse administered EpiPen
Talk about adding insult to injury.A Virginia woman in the throes of a life-threatening allergic reaction was told to cough up hundreds of dollars before a nurse would administer an EpiPen.“I asked, ‘If I didn’t have the money, would you have just let me die?’” Stephanie Rowell recalled in an interview with KFF Health News.
“And they said, sorry, that is their policy.”Like millions of Americans, Rowell, a manager at an agritourism business, doesn’t have health insurance.The 53-year-old has been without coverage since 2025, when she said she could no longer afford to buy a policy on her own.The harsh reality of going without protection hit home in July, when a wasp sting at her parents’ house triggered a terrifying cascade of symptoms.
Suddenly, Rowell’s arm felt like it was “on fire.” Her body began to itch profusely while her face swelled and turned red.She popped a Benadryl and jumped in the car with her father, heading for the nearest emergency room, about 25 minutes away.But just 10 minutes into the drive, her throat began to tighten.
Realizing she couldn’t wait, the pair pulled into a nearby TruHealthNow urgent care center in hopes of getting her treated faster.Once inside, she told staff she didn’t have health insurance.A nurse practitioner examined her and diagnosed her with anaphylaxis.
The severe, potentially deadly reaction can set in within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen, according to the Mayo Clinic.When it happens, the immune system unleashes a flood of chemicals that can cause blood pressure to plummet and airways to swell, making it difficult — or even impossible — to breathe.The condition is considered a medical emergency that requires an immediate injection of epinephrine, the medication used in EpiPens, to counteract the reaction and help restore normal breathing.An estimated 1 to 5 in every 100 Americans have experienced anaphylaxis, which claims about 225 lives each year, according to the Allergy...