Dog Attacks Can Be Extremely Frightening

Dog attacks can be an extremely frightening and painful experience, especially when you are on the receiving end of the aggressive actions.

Your finances may take quite a hit due to treatment expenses like medication, physiotherapy, cosmetic surgery, and in some cases psychological therapy. Furthermore, your injuries may make you unable to work for an extended period of time as you recover.

Although the owner of the dog is legally obligated to provide financial compensation for your injuries, it is exceedingly rare for the responsible party to step forward without a court order. Luckily, you can secure legal representation from an expert personal injury lawyer to successfully present the case to the court and receive fair compensation for acute and chronic injuries caused by the dog attack.

Common Dog Bite Injuries & Complications

Physical

Dogs have sharp teeth and strong jaws that quickly tear the flesh in irregular patterns. As a result, dog bites often require skin grafts and odd stitching patterns, which may drastically extend your healing time and pain during recovery. Furthermore, large dogs can even snap your tendons, ligaments and bones with their powerful jaws.

Despite common belief, dogs carry loads of bacteria in their mouths that often lead to infection and potentially sceptic shock, after their teeth break your skin. Dog bites often sever nerves in the injured area, causing symptoms that may even last for life. Lacerations to sensory or internal organs can cause serious lasting damage or even death.

After a severe attack, you may have spent a long time in the hospital or rehab centre in hopes of recovering without lifelong disabilities. Even if you did recover completely, the scars may result in permanent disfigurement that affects your quality of life.

Mental

It is completely natural to feel anxious or fearful after being attacked by a dog. After all, canine attacks frequently come out of nowhere and with seemingly little warning. As with many attacks, the dog may have suddenly leaped out from behind a fence or lunged at you while walking by on the side walk. As a result, some victims develop a strong fear of dogs that can be hard to overcome.

The high stress nature of an attack may also cause post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, symptoms to develop. If you develop PTSD, you may suffer from distressing nightmares, situational avoidance and a high startle response. The risk of developing chronic depression or anxiety related to the attack, injuries or scars is also quite high.

Financial Repercussions

Mental and physical injuries caused by dog bites often result in the need for extensive medical care. The cost of cosmetic surgical care, rehab centre stays, mental health treatment and physical therapy can quickly add up to a staggering amount. Furthermore, your bills likely piled up as you spent time off work recovering.

Even more upsetting, you may have developed disabilities that prevent you from going back to work and completing your normal job duties. After a dog attack, you may feel like the financial problems will never end.

Pursuing Your Case & Getting Compensation

Thankfully, you can seek help from a dog bite lawyer to obtain compensation to cover all of the medical bills and lost wages. Furthermore, you have the right to seek compensation for pain and suffering. To start the case, your lawyer will gather information about the attack at a free consultation meeting at the hospital, rehab centre, our offices or your home.

Your lawyer may need to utilize medical reports, witness statements and prior incident records to fully recreate the events leading up to the attack for the courts. All of the information you provide is used to build a solid case against the dog owners to prove fault and assign responsibility for the financial repercussions.

Don’t Delay

Since statutes of limitations apply to personal injury cases, like dog attacks, it is important that you contact a law firm soon after the incident occurs. Your lawyer will help you deal with the court proceedings without affecting your recovery. You can lean on us for emotional support before, during and after each step in the case creation and presentation process.

Your physical and mental health are always put first to continually facilitate a full recovery from the attack. Upon completion of the case, compensation received through the court will cover your past and future medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering experienced from the attack and subsequent recovery.

For more information or to book a free consultation, simply give us a call directly or use the form on the right.