AR-News: AR NEWS: Dog bite costly for man

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http://www.eagleherald.com/bite0909.htm



Published Tuesday, September 9, 2003 11:16:23 AM Central Time


By PENNY MULLINS 
EagleHerald senior staff writer 
MARINETTE -- There's an old saying -- if a dog bites a man, that's not news, 
but if man bites a dog, it is. 
But for one Marinette man, who was bitten by a dog in Menominee almost two 
months ago, what he had to go through was news to him. 
Robert Bourgeois and his friend were walking her 2-year-old black Labrador 
retriever, Jade, on the beach between Tourist Park and the Menominee Lighthouse 
July 15, when they saw another dog about 75 feet away. 
They put the leash back on their dog and decided to walk back to the car, 
when they heard someone yelling. They turned and saw the other dog running toward 
them, barking. 
"The guy with the dog was running, too," Bourgeois told the EagleHerald 
recently. 
He had some dog food in his pocket and took it out in an effort to try to 
stop the dog heading in their direction. 
"But he just blew past me and then attacked," Bourgeois said. The dog, which 
looked like a pit bull-mix, attacked Jade, clamping its jaws on her snout. 
"He was tearing and shaking, and I tried to pry his jaws apart," Bourgeois 
said. "Then the guy showed up and we both tried to pull his dog off Jade." 
Bourgeois was bitten in the left ring finger, and the other man, on his hand. 
"After the dogs were separated, there was blood pouring out of his hand, so I 
said, 'We both got bit, can I have your name and address because we have to 
report this,' and he didn't say anything, so I repeated it again. He said he 
would take his dog to his car and get a bandage for his hand, and be back." 
But the man got into his car and left. 
A witness to the attack got the car's license plate and it was reported to 
the Menominee Police, but the license plate didn't check out. 
For 10 days, Bourgeois waited and hoped he would hear from the dog's owner 
that his pet had been vaccinated against rabies. 
"I went to the hospital to get the wound cleaned up and they recommended I 
call my family doctor. The doctor suggested I call the (Menominee) health 
department, and said since I had no knowledge of whether the dog was vaccinated, I 
should get a rabies series. I looked up rabies and found that there's a less 
than 10 percent survival rate, and once the symptoms hit, it's irreversible." 
Bourgeois called Public Health, Delta & Menominee Counties, and was told each 
rabies shot would cost him $10, but that if he had the shots at the hospital, 
he would likely be covered by his insurance. 
He went to Bay Area Medical Center, where he started a series of rabies 
immunizations July 25, and after it was completed, received a bill for more than 
$10,000. 
Bourgeois said he was responsible for not only his deductible, but for his 10 
percent co-pay, making his entire experience not only frustrating, but 
expensive. 
"I'm not angry with the dog, and I'm not really that angry at the guy," he 
said. "These things can happen -- it's no different than someone hitting my car. 
But having a dog is a matter of making a choice, and when you make these 
choices -- drinking and driving or letting your dog run loose -- there's a risk 
you're taking and you might be liable." 
Bourgeois said he would like to find the dog's owner, to hold him 
accountable. 
"I'm not looking to sue the guy for a million dollars, but I would like him 
to make me whole (financially)." 
Bourgeois said the rabies immunizations had to be given at certain intervals, 
making it impossible for him to leave town, but that they were not that 
painful. In recent years, the immunizations have been given in the arms and legs, 
rather than the painful method of injecting a live vaccine into the stomach. 
And after contacting the EagleHerald with his story, Bourgeois learned that 
there was an error on his bill from BAMC. He was charged for the wrong dosage 
of immune globulin, which brought the price down by almost $7,000. 
He also learned that he would not have been eligible for the immunization 
through the Michigan health department, since he was a Marinette resident. 
For now, Bourgeois has to be happy that he didn't develop rabies, and that 
Jade, who was checked out at the veterinarian's, didn't suffer more than 
lacerations and swelling. 
He's still looking for the man and the dog, he said. 
"I keep thinking, what if it was an older woman or a young kid with a dog?" 
he said. "The dog went out of its way to attack." 
Bourgeois, who is a strong man, was barely able to pry the dog's mouth open 
once it closed around Jade, he said. 
"There's a lot of responsibility being a dog owner," he said. "We even took a 
chance when Jade was off the leash. But my question to the man is 'Why did 
you take off? Why not at least tell me (the dog) was vaccinated
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