Doc: Dog victim's 'muscles were destroyed'

The North Merrick woman mauled by two pit bulls last week needed three separate surgeries to repair torn flesh and shredded muscle in each of her four limbs, the lead surgeon in the medical procedures said Friday.

Dr. Louis H. Riina, at an afternoon news conference, said he worked with six other surgeons at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow to repair damaged muscles and tendons and add layers of skin to mauling victim Shashi Sharma, 62.

Riina said as much as 15 percent of the victim's skin on both her arms and legs was torn away in the attack Sept. 29 outside a senior citizen center on Meadowbrook Road, near the woman's home. The two dogs attacked her as she was walking for exercise on a gravel track, Riina said.

Police shot to death one of the pit bulls after the attack. The second, believed to be wounded by police gunfire on Tuesday in a search in an Ott Lane neighborhood, is still being sought, a police spokeswoman said Friday.

Riina, a reconstructive and plastic surgeon, said Sharma's injuries were among the worst he has ever seen.

"They tore the skin off her arms like you would take off a glove," said Riina as the hospital showed detailed photographs of Sharma's damaged limbs. "Her muscles were destroyed. You could see that everything was ripped.

"These animals were on a mission."

Riina said most of the damage was to Sharma's left arm and right leg. He expects that she will remain hospitalized for at least two more weeks. Up until 48 hours before the Friday news conference she had been in an induced coma, he said.

Hospital officials said Sharma's condition Friday in the NUMC burn unit was fair and stable.

The first two surgeries, last Thursday and Friday, were primarily to clean the wounds of gravel, Riina said, and to reattach and repair muscles in the arms and one leg.

The third surgery, two days ago, was to repair muscles and tendons mostly in the right leg.

The surgeon said Sharma would need physical therapy but could not predict if she would have "full function" in her limbs upon recovery.

Police this week said the two pit bulls who mauled Sharma were mates and that the female had recently given birth to a litter. Police said the pit bulls got loose from a Roosevelt home, and neighbors told police the animals had never shown a violent nature.

After the attack, police shot to death one of the dogs, the male. They have been searching for the female since, primarily in wooded areas in North Merrick, west of the Meadowbrook State Parkway. On Tuesday, police said they believe they wounded the female when shooting at her.

With Gary Dymski