Chandler Dog Bite Lawyers

Dog Attacks and the Future for Your Family

Every Chandler dog bite accident has the potential to wreak havoc on the lives of the victims and their families. But when you are the parent of a child victim in an accident where a dog bite occurs, you'll find that there is more than just havoc in your life. It will seem that there is nothing that can quell the anger and frustration, and the fear that you feel over the pain that your child has experienced and will continue to experience.

When a dog bites your child you may feel or think that you have no recourse against the owner of the dog. Your primary concern is your child, their health, and their well-being, and you may not even be thinking about what the future holds. Fortunately for you and for your child, no matter how distracted you may be by your concern, you do have recourse against the owner of the dog that bit your child and changed their life forever. However you only have these rights if you act quickly on your child's behalf, reach out to the right people who can help you, and do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of the neighborhood, your child, and your family's future. If you are the parent of a child that was injured by a dog, it is also important to understand your rights and responsibilities, what may happen to your child, and where to go from the time of the injury moving forward.

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Injuries That May Be Sustained By Your Child

If your child is involved in a dog bite accident and sustains serious injuries, you must recognize that their life is going to change immediately, and irreparably, and that the lives of you and your other children will also be impacted. There are myriad ways that injuries sustained by your child in an incident involving a dog may change their life, alter the future of your family, and impact your present way of life. Some of the most common injuries that your child may sustain that are life-changing in a dog bite accident include:

• Disfiguring bite injuries. Disfiguring bite injuries are common in dog bite accidents and impact hundreds of people throughout the United States every year, changing not only their lives, but also their appearances, permanently. When a dog attacks your child, there is a high likelihood that they will be bit on the face or other part of the head, arms, legs, neck, chest, hands, or feet, and any of these areas are susceptible to disfiguring injuries. For a child, a dog bite injury on any part of the body has a high risk of sustaining a serious disfiguring injury that may cause them significant harm.
  • The amount of disfigurement depends on the location and severity of the injury, and also the age of your child and how large their body parts are. With disfiguring injuries it is a very real possibility that your child will require multiple surgeries just to begin the corrective process, but that surgery may not ever completely repair the injury or make your child look the way they once did. These types of injuries forever change the life of your child because they are a constant reminder of the pain and suffering of the accident, and because they may be teased at school, and even be shut out from groups of friends, or from jobs that they may have held at a later point in life.
  • Another reason that disfiguring injuries are so serious for children is that they can impede the normal growth process and over time, your child may lose use of a limb or other body part due to these injuries. Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball to tell you or a doctor what the permanent damage may be. Only time will tell.
• Losing the use of limbs and digits, or, losing digits or limbs all together. While losing limbs is a significant possibility in a dog bite injury, losing the use of a hand, of a digit, or of another part of the body is also a possibility. Some children have been paralyzed from the neck down and from the waist down in a bad dog attack incident. This is a very serious type of injury as it impacts your child's mobility for the rest of their lives. While surgery can help to increase mobility for your child, in the majority of cases, your child will face lifelong problems due to their injuries.
• Internal injuries. Internal injuries are more than just possible, but probable, in a dog bite accident and can cause a significant amount of loss of blood within the body. Internal injuries are very common in dog attacks involving small children where the dog stomped on the child or bit their bodies. If your child fell down repeatedly while trying to get away from the dog, this could also have contributed to the development of internal injuries.
  • Unfortunately, internal injuries are not always readily apparent, and if your child does not exhibit symptoms, or does not have external injuries, you may be tempted to not take your child to the hospital. However, it is critical that whenever a dog attacks your child, that you take them to the emergency room immediately, as only a doctor can determine whether or not your child has sustained internal injuries. A visit to a doctor could be a life-saving measure that you never thought of.
• Significant blood loss. When your child is involved in a dog bite accident, it is likely that they will suffer a significant amount of blood loss. Small children, unlike adults, are likely to sustain deeper wounds across a much larger portion of their bodies, making it more likely for them to lose more blood in this type of incident.
  • Depending on the severity of the injury, the depth of the bite, the location of the bite wound, and how long it takes for you to get your child to the hospital, they could lose a significant amount of blood. This will, in turn, result in your child requiring blood transfusions and other emergent care. Significant blood loss from a dog bite injury can also result in your child going into shock, and falling into a coma, or may even cause their death.

In addition to the above listed injuries there are many other types of injuries that occur in dog bite accidents, which is all the more reason for parents throughout Chandler and the state of Arizona to do everything possible to protect their children and the future of their families.

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Your Child's Rights After a Dog Attack

When your child is involved in a dog bite accident you may feel that your family is at a loss for having any recourse against the owner of the dog. However, you have more rights than you are aware of at this time that will provide you with the ability to seek recourse against the owner of the dog. In addition you may be able to seek out additional assistance from animal control. Animal control will take possession of the dog in question and hold it to ensure that it is not an aggressive dog and that it does not have any diseases that could cause serious harm or death to your child or others in the area.

The law will also help you to get recourse against the owner of the dog when you file a civil suit against that individual for your child's injuries and medical bills, including those that will occur in the future. In addition your family will be able to seek recompense and compensation in the settlement for your lost wages while caring for your child, and for other traumas that your child may face in the future, such as the inability to work and to lead a fruitful life.

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Your Responsibilities After an Animal Attacks Your Child

After your child is involved in a dog bite accident you have the right to seek recompense from the dog owner for the damages caused to your family. However you also have responsibilities that you must attend to in order to ensure that your child's right and your rights are upheld. One of the most important things that you must do immediately after dog bite accident is to take your child to the hospital. Getting your child to the hospital not only ensures that your child will receive appropriate and timely medical care, especially if they sustained serious or life-threatening injuries, but it also ensures that you will have a record from a medical provider in the hospital showing that your child sustained serious injuries due to their encounter with the dog in question. Waiting several hours or days after a dog bite incident to get your child to the hospital could compromise your ability to seek compensation from the owner of the dog.

It is also your responsibility to notify animal control that there has been an incident with an aggressive dog. Contacting animal control ensures that the dog will be taken off the streets, and animal control can hold the owner of the dog responsible for their actions. If you do not notify animal control and the dog bites another child you could be held responsible for withholding information from the law.

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What to Do After a Dog Bite Incident Involving Your Child

After a bad dog bite accident in which your child is seriously injured, getting them to the doctor and getting in touch with animal control are obviously your top two priorities. However, you must also quickly shift gears and think about your family, and your future. And that means reaching out to a skilled Chandler personal injury lawyer. An attorney who is experienced in dealing with dog bite injury accidents can help you to gather all of the information and evidence you need to proceed with a legal case against the owner of the dog that bit your child. They will collect witness statements, information from animal control, records from the doctor, and other evidence to build a strong case that will help ensure you receive the compensation you need to put your family back together.

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Speak with a Chandler Dog Bite Attorney

The Husband & Wife Law Team can help you fight for compensation to cover the wages you lost while caring for your child, all of your child's medical expenses at present and for the future, and additional compensation for pain and suffering felt by your child and by your family. Contact the Chandler dog bite attorneys at The Husband & Wife Law Team for a free consultation to help you better understand your rights and responsibilities, and to determine whether you have a good case.

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