Citation

Jovanović AA, Ivković M, Gasić MJ. Forensic Sci. Int. 2011; 208(1-3): e15-9.

Affiliation

School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Dr Subotica 8, 11000 Belgrade,Serbia; Clinic for Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Pasterova 2, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.02.016

PMID

21388760

Abstract

A 79-year-old woman suffered from acute posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a loco typico, non-displaced fracture of her right distal radius due to an incident involving the assault of two unleashed owned dogs, which suddenly ran into her and aggressively jumped on her chest and knocked her down to the ground. Recovery for her damage claim concerning pain and disability due to her right forearm fracture caused by the incident, was not the issue in the litigation concerned. However, the issue of delayed impact of her previous Holocaust experience placed a significant challenge on M.N., as a plaintiff, in establishing a causal link between the posttraumatic stress disorder concerned and the alleged harmful action of the defendants, the owners of the two dogs. The case reported here proved interesting and instructive not only in the sense of addressing main issues relevant to litigation for psychological damage related to reactivated PTSD and delayed PTSD, but also in the sense of pointing at the clinical relevance of dog assaults on humans which, even without dog bite injuries, may result in a severe traumatization and eventual civil lawsuit.

Language: en