Dogs are regarded as the best companions of humans. However, even the best domestic canine can attack people under certain circumstances. In fact, many studies conducted in the field report that more than 800,000 people are bitten by dogs in the United States of America and most of the cases are so severe that it requires intense medical attention. Sadly, most dog bite cases reported are of children and postal workers. Now, you can guess the number of people that are likely to claim for a dog bite settlement in the country. However, the victims will be able to determine their compensation benefits only after the investigation process. Furthermore, most people are still not aware of what to do after a dog bite and may make some silly mistakes that can ruin their dog bite settlement claim. In order to help you with this, some of the crucial actions that you must take after a dog bite are listed below.
- The first thing that you must do right after a dog bite is to seek medical attention even it is a slight scratch. Note that your health must be your prime concern. Sometimes, the dogs will not be vaccinated for rabies making even the slightest injury to trigger rabies infection if not treated at the right time.
- Start collecting as many pieces of evidence as you can for the documentation process. Better, if you can take some photographs of your wound before getting it treated so that the officials will be able to assess the severity of the dog bite injury. Further, gather information of the owner or caretaker of the dog for further proceedings.
- At times, people hesitate to report the dog bite case when the owner of the dog is someone they know. Sometimes, even the dog owner may plead you not to file a case and may promise to look after your expenses. Otherwise, people will be really traumatized after the dreadful incident that filing a report will be the last thing that may come into their mind. Anyway, it is highly recommended to report the case so that the authorities will initiate proceedings to prevent further dog bite as well as to investigate your case.
- If you plan to claim for insurance, it is better to have your dog attack attorney talk to the insurance companies on your behalf. Note that most insurance companies will try their best to make the claimant settle for their low compensation deals. A good dog attack attorney will be able to deal with all their strategies and tactics and obtain a maximum dog bite settlement amount for their client.