Maryland Dog Bite Attorney

My mother who is a Maryland dog bite attorney was showing me some of the statistic for dog bites across the USA and boy was I surprised. Of the estimated 4.7 million people who were bitten by dogs in 1994, 800,000 sought medical care. Of these, 332,000 needed treatment in emergency rooms, and 6,000 were hospitalized. The average hospital stay for a dog-bite injury was 3.6 days. Emergency room costs for dog bite victims in the United States was about $102 million in 1994, and overall direct medical costs was about $165 million. The majority of dog bites to adult humans are inflicted to the lower extremities followed by bites to the upper extremities including the head, face and neck. For children, 77% of dog bite injuries are to facial areas. According to the Insurance Information Institute, dog bites accounted for about one-quarter of all claims on homeowner's insurance, costing more than $321 million in 2003. In 2002, the latest year for which numbers are available, the average claim for a dog bite was $16,600. Dog attacks account for one-third of all liability claims on homeowners' insurance policies. From 1979 to 1996, dog attacks resulted in more than 300 human dog bite related deaths in the United States. Most of the victims were children. My mom the Maryland dog bite attorney also pointed out to me that annually in the United States there are approximately 20 human fatalities directly resulting from a dog attack; this number is miniscule compared with human fatalities caused by gunshot, with approximately 12,000 annually, and accidents with approximately 100,000 annually. One thing interesting that my mom the Maryland dog bite attorney showed me was that over the last 20 years at least 25 breeds of dogs have been involved in bite related deaths but Pit Bulls and Rottweilers were involved in at least half of those.