A snake struck man from Rockvale has discovered that a first-aid scene after a snake bite in films may not hold any good in real life. Mike Edwards was working on his farm near Rockdale on Saturday when a timber rattlesnake bit one of his index fingers.

The standard snakebite scene in many Hollywood movies shows the victim applying a tourniquet to the limb and then cutting the wound and sucking out the venom.

Inspired from Western films, a good Samaritan put a "tourniquet" on his arm to slow the spread of venom, as Edwards and his wife Andrea waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Fortunately, an EMT was on the phone with the couple before the ambulance arrived and - having been told a tourniquet had been set - told them to take it off.

Recalling the incident to the Daily News Journal, Edwards said a toxicologist at Vanderbilt told him the tourniquet complicated treatment. Since it concentrated the venom in one area, the tissue swelled to the point that it was hard to administer the antivenin.

Middle Tennessee Medical Center's Dr. Kevin Beier, who specializes in emergency treatment, said venom is used by snakes to break down the tissue of prey to make them easier to digest.

"When you trap the venom, it causes tissue damage and necrosis (tissue death)," Beier told the Journal.

Beier further said that there are rare circumstances when using a tourniquet would have helped, such as in the cases of the victim going into shock and to slow the spread of the venom, but that the method of cutting a wound and sucking out the venom is never recommended.