As a parent, you understand that your child will probably not go through life unscathed. Bumps, bruises and even broken arms from falls and bicycle crashes are to be expected. Still, you may feel shocked when a serious incident results in your child needing to go to the emergency room.

Because emergency rooms are busy places with a number of potentially scary sights, you may dread the idea of having to take your child in for care. However, if a dog attacks your child, and he or she suffers serious injuries, you have no other choice than to seek medical attention right away.

Going to the ER

Understandably, your emotions may run haywire because of the concern you have over your child’s well-being. Still, you will need to ensure that you take the right steps to help your child receive the care he or she needs. If the incident resulted in uncontrollable bleeding, you should call for an ambulance instead of trying to take your child to the ER yourself. You may feel like waiting on an ambulance is wasted time, but EMS workers can provide your child with care while on the way to the hospital.

Providing information

As the parent, you will need to provide a lot of information to doctors and other medical staff members after getting to the ER. Hopefully, you can provide a description of the dog and contact information for the animal’s owner if you have it. You will also need to provide information about your child’s medical history and family medical history that may be relevant to the situation.

Obtaining information

You will also need to remember as much information as possible about the event and those after. Information like the names of the doctors, their assessments of the injuries, treatments and medications, and any follow-up care instructions will prove useful to you. If anything seems confusing to you, make sure you ask questions.

Though your child’s care and recovery is a top priority, you may also wonder what actions you could take against the owner of the dog that attacked your child. In some cases, these incidents warrant legal action, and the information you obtained from the ER and that you recall about the attack could prove useful in determining whether you have reason to move forward with a claim. Discussing this option with a Pennsylvania attorney may be wise.