Dog bites are terrifying, often causing causing not only disfigurement, but also severe emotional distress. Immediately after the attack, you will feel frazzled. Try to remain calm. Follow these steps to protect your health (or your child’s health) and obtain a significant recovery.
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Identify the Dog that Attacked You
Your medical care comes first, but be able to identify the dog that bit you. This may be easy if the the owner is standing right there, offering insurance information. But that is not always the case.
Many dogs running at large are not licensed, making identification more tricky. Plus, many pure breeds look alike. Our firm has litigated cases of “mistaken identity” of a dog. There are also cases where multiple dogs have attacked the same person at once; each dog having a separate owner. Thus, amid the chaos of an animal attack, you need to make an effort to identify the exact dog(s) involved.
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Get Medical Care
This does two things: it protects your health, which is most important. Secondly, you have a duty to minimize your own damages relative to your legal claims for damages. Hence, go to hospital or at least Med Express for prompt, effective treatment. It can jeopardize your legal claims if fail to seek prompt attention or disregard medical advice. For example, if you get an infection from your own failure to follow through with treatment, you may not be able to a recovery for the infection. Try not to delay seeing a doctor just because you initially feel alright.
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Types of Care
Any break of the skin can cause an infection, even if the bite is not very deep at first blush. If able to treat yourself at home, immediately wash the wound with mild soap and clean water. Numerous kinds of bacteria exist in the mouths of dogs. Thus, the key is to prevent a harmful infection. Wash the dog bite to clean the area of saliva and bacteria near the injury. After cleaning the dog bite with soap and water, you should rinse it out with some antiseptic lotion. Apply an antibiotic cream to the bite and then cover it with a bandage and allow the bite to heal.
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Special Risk For Infection
Any dog bite can result in an infection from the animals mouth. Certain people are at special risk, such as those who:
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Abuse alcohol or have liver related issues;
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Are greater than 50 years old;
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Have diabetes, HIV, or AIDS;
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Do not have a spleen;
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Have undergone certain surgeries or had organ transplant.
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For each of the above, you need to see a doctor ASAP. Likewise, if you have been bitten by a stray dog, then you need to consult a medical doctor ASAP. A stray dog may have rabies and thus it is important that you seek medical help so as to avoid any kind of infections or diseases from the dog bite.
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Reporting The Attack
You need to report the attack to County animal control. In Allegheny County, you contact the Allegheny Health Department. You can call them at (412) 578-8062. On evenings, weekends, or holidays, call: (412) 687-ACHD (2243). You may not know whether the biting dog had its shots and vaccinations, but animal control and/or the police can compel the dog owner to provide that information. They will also create a report, which is not very detailed, but it will have some relevant information. You need a paper trail of the events at issue to build your claim for personal injury relief and/or your own insurance company for first party medical coverage.
If you seek a report, again, contact the county health department in the county where the dog bite occurred. They are required to make a report, the police are not. For more on that, click here.
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Be Careful What You Say
Anything you say to anyone can be admissible against you, which is a special exception to hearsay where parties to a potential law suit are concerned. You may need to talk to police or Animal Control without your lawyer present, but just keep it factual — “Just the facts, Ma’am.” If you guess, speculate, or misspeak, anything you say can be treated as evidence against you. When possible, have your lawyer involved in the preparation of any reports or give statements for you (but don’t delay to inform the police and animal control of the attack). Don’t post anything on Facebook or other social media.
Protect Your Legal Rights
Takes Photos of Your Injuries
This helps build your case. All injuries improve over time, fortunately. It is important to show how the injuries looked, early on, because that documents your pain and suffering, and how the injuries would have felt, even if your scars fade a good bit. You should also take photographs of the accident location, and the dog that bit you, if possible to do safely. Our firm may be able additional photos to properly document the case. This evidence could be key to your case.
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Contact an Experienced Attorney
In the event that you (or your son or daughter) suffered a personal injury from a dog bite, take advantage of our experienced and aggressive dog bite attorneys to get the compensation you deserve for your injuries.
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Don’t Delay Taking Action
Pennsylvania has a two (2) year statute of limitations period. That time period goes by quickly. During that time, you must both investigate your claims, identify all possible defendants, and actually file suit. Plus, you should take action sooner rather than later because witnesses’ memories will fade and evidence needs to be preserved. Added that, if you have a claim against the government in some way (such as an attack by a dog owned by the government such as a police dog, or an attack on government property), you have only six (6) months to serve formal written notice on the entity you intend to sue, otherwise, your claims may be dismissed.
Preserve Evidence
Your Pittsburgh lawyer needs to write a “Notice to Preserve Evidence” letter to the responsible party, telling him not to dispose of evidence. This is very important. If, after you serve the letter on the Defendant, evidence goes missing, the judge or jury may draw an adverse inference that the evidence would have helped your case and hurt the Defendant’s defense. Absent such a letter, a Defendant need not preserve evidence and he may literally throw away evidence as “trash” in the ordinary course of life, until you make a formal claim. Don’t let the Defendant benefit from “misplacing” evidence.
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Understand the Legal Aspects Of A Dog Bite
Click here to learn on this site about dog bite laws in Pennsylvania. Better yet, call or email us today and speak to one of our experienced lawyers. The consultation is totally free and there is no obligation. We come to your home or hospital room ASAP to give you the answers you need, and so we can start our investigation promptly to obtain the highest possible recovery.
Generally speaking, in PA, if the dog that bit you did not have a leash, or if the dog has previously bitten someone else, then you can sue the dog owner and recover damages for the dog bite. There are many other circumstances under which you may be entitled to damages for your dog bite injuries.
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