Long-Term Health Effects of Severe Dog Bite Injuries
Sometimes, the effects of a dog bite can linger a lot longer than the attack. You might experience ongoing complications from the dog bite for months, years, or even the rest of your life. If you are facing long-term injuries or complications from your dog bite, it’s important to work with a dog bite lawyer who can help you get the full compensation you are owed under the law.
The following overview will explain some of the most common long-term health issues caused by severe dog bite attacks.
Amputation
Sometimes the damage from a severe dog bite is so traumatic that the best way to control it is to amputate the affected body part. This typically means losing a finger, toe, hand, foot, arm, or leg.
Sometimes, the decision to amputate is made shortly after a dog bite attack. There might be too much trauma for the doctors to handle, so amputation is used to stop blood loss and save your life. The extent of your injury might also make it impossible for doctors to save the hand or digit, so it’s removed.
Other times, amputation might be a response to a serious infection. The decision to amputate comes when infection has set in the digit or limb and threatens to spread throughout your body, and it is too serious to treat with antibiotics. The best solution is amputation.
Nerve Damage
The physical damage of a dog bite can affect all the tissues in the attacked area, including muscles, bones, and nerves. Nerve damage can be harder to heal than other types of injuries.
When nerves fail to heal, you might experience different effects, including:
- Inability to move a limb or digits
- Weakness in a limb or digits
- Numbness
- Chronic pain
Since nerve damage may not heal, there is little that can be done about these long-term effects.
Chronic Pain
Some people experience chronic pain after a dog bite. This pain can result from many types of injuries that don’t heal properly, such as nerve damage, damaged joints, and scarring. Sometimes, doctors don’t even know where the chronic pain is coming from.
Partly because the origin can be mysterious, chronic pain is notoriously hard to treat. Pain medications become less effective over time, and the pain may get worse. People with chronic pain are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, too.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
After a traumatic event like a dog bite, you might develop some form of PTSD. You might experience flashbacks of the incident, anxiety, or nightmares. You may be jumpy and easily startled. You may develop a phobia of dogs, even if you previously loved them.
Depression
Depression can be a significant psychological effect of a dog bite. In depression, a person loses interest in things they used to enjoy as well as having little to no interest in the daily activities of life.
Depression could be primary: related to the dog bite itself. However, depression is often secondary to other effects of a dog bite attack, including chronic pain and PTSD.
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes that surround the spine and brain. There are many potential sources of meningitis in a dog bite, including bacteria and viruses.
Meningitis typically passes without complications, but for one in five people with bacterial meningitis, it can lead to long-lasting aftereffects like sensory loss, seizures, limb weakness, cognitive difficulties, and even limb amputations.
Disability
Many people experience disability after a dog bite attack. This could be related to any number of potential causes, such as amputation of a limb, nerve damage, chronic pain, PTSD, or meningitis.
Any type of injury that prevents you from holding a job or that reduces your earning capacity could be considered a disability resulting from your dog bite. Sometimes, physical therapy, living aids, and surgical treatment might reduce the level of disability, but rarely eliminates it altogether.
Disfigurement
When a dog attacks you in a visible area, the resulting damage to your muscles, skin, fat, and other structures can cause disfigurement. Disfigurement can lead to a diminished quality of life as well as the potential for reduced earnings. Correction of disfigurement might require reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, which are medical costs that you deserve compensation for.
Rabies
Rabies is a deadly disease that you can contract from a dog bite. If you get preventive treatment either before the bite or shortly thereafter, you can avoid the condition. If you don’t, it might take two months or more to develop. Rabies is100% fatal for humans once the symptoms start to appear.
Pushchak Law Can Help After Your Dog Bite Attack
After a dog bite attack, you are entitled to full compensation for your injuries. This includes physical injuries like nerve pain and disfigurement. Assemble all the receipts you have for your medical treatment and other expenses. In addition, an expert can estimate how many treatments you are likely to need to fully treat your injuries.
You can also get compensation for the mental health effects of your dog bite attack. Therapy is covered, but so are lost quality of life and ongoing suffering. These noneconomic damages are harder to calculate, but they are just as real. An experienced dog bite attack lawyer can help you calculate these damages.
If you are looking for a dog bite lawyer in Denver, look no further than Pushchak Law. At our practice, we have made dog bite lawsuits a primary focus of our practice. This specialization helps us deliver great results to our clients.
In addition, you will benefit from our Informed Decisions™ Approach focused on helping you achieve the best possible outcome to your case. With this unique approach, we take the time to listen to your concerns after the event so that we will know what’s most important to you. Then we can use our legal expertise to help you develop the right strategy to achieve that goal.
We care enough to take the time to make sure we know what matters to you. Plus, we give you our personal contact information so you can reach us any time of day or night when you have questions, concerns, or decisions about your case to relay. The case will always remain your case –we are here to serve and advise you, but the final decision on how we handle your case will always be yours.
To learn more about the benefits of working with Pushchak Law, please contact us today for a free initial consultation. We serve clients in Denver and the surrounding areas of Colorado.
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