my grandson was bitten by a copper head snake, why was he not given antivenins?

Answer 1

Copperhead bites are rarely fatal, even if venom is injected. Plus there's a risk of having a severe allergic reaction to the antivenom. In most cases doctors will take a more conservative approach to treating, rather than risk a fatality from antiventom reaction by the victim.

See the end of the fifth paragraph:
http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/american-copperhead.cfm

Answer 2

There is actually a risk involved in using anti-venin. The body will also remember being given anti-venins which may cause it to develop a bad reaction if antivenins are used next time.
The kidney is actually able to clean the poison out of the bloodstream (naturally) given time. The only problem with snake poison is that some victims die before reaching the hospital. Since your grandson was being closely monitored in hospital already, the best choice was to actually not to give him antivenins and let his body clear the poison out. The doctors were not being negligent so do not worry about it. He'll be ok.

Answer 3

it probably wasn't a copperhead or it was a "dry bite" snakes can control if they want to inject venom or not. When someone get a "dry bite" the snake doesn't inject venom. the doctor probably marked the bite and didn't see any symptoms of beeing poisoned and did not want to waste the anti-venom because it is very expensive.