Dog Bite
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Dog Bite
My stepson was bittennipped by my brother’s dog when we were visiting his house. My husband child’s father was a paramedic and treated and cleaned the wound immediately after it happened. My stepson continued to play. The child’s mother brought my stepson to urgent care 2 days later and to his pediatrician 5 days later. The child stepped on the dogs leg and it came up and nipped his side. It broke the skin but nothing major and hardly any bleeding. The child’s mother is friends with a lawyer who mailed my brother certified demand letter for medical bills. This is understandable as it was my brother’s dog who bit my stepson. Yet, she is requesting payment for the full amount charged from hospital before the claim went to insurance. My husband carries the child on his health insurance. The mother claimed insurance at the urgent care and pediatric’s office, however did not claim his prescriptions under insurance which they would have been covered if she had them submitted. Does my brother have to pay the full amount for the medical bills before insurance paid their portion and can he request the prescriptions be billed to insurance since there is no reason they shouldn’t have been in the first place? Is it even lawful for her lawyer friend to be requesting payments for items that the insurance paid and the mother won’t and hasn’t had to pay?
Asked on August 22, 2017 under Personal Injury, Illinois
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
Damages (compensation for the personal injury claim) includes the total medical bills whether or not they have been paid by insurance or will be paid by insurance. Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The child's personal injury claim should also include compensation for pain and suffering which is an amount in addition to the medical bills.
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