In three years, 410 people with head and face injuries sustained while riding an electric scooter have been admitted to the Paula Stradins Clinical University Hospital, the State Police informs.
The most frequent diagnoses in these cases were open head wounds and fractures of various facial bones, the treatment of which can last up to three weeks and cost up to 5,000 euros from the state budget, according to Anna Ivanova, head of the Mouth, Face and Jaw Surgery Center.
“For fractures of the facial bones, osteosynthesis is performed, or the joining of bones with metal mini or microplates, which most often remain in the human body for life. The cost of osteosynthesis surgery materials is 3,000 to 5,000 euros, which is covered by the state budget. However, facial injuries most often also include dental injuries, the treatment of which the patient has to cover out of his own pocket. Treatment of such injuries in the hospital can last up to three weeks, but most often after that, patients continue to be treated in outpatient and dental clinics for up to a year,” says Ivanova.
Cases involving children in e-scooter accidents are particularly worrying. Although most often children end up in the Children’s Clinical University Hospital after accidents, 30 children under the age of 18 have been treated in the Stradins Hospital over three years, with injuries ranging from facial abrasions to jawbone fractures.
From 2021 to 2023, a total of 410 people with various head and face injuries following electric scooter accidents were treated at Stradiņa Hospital, of which open head wounds were found in 220 cases, mandibular fractures in 71 cases, cheekbone and maxilla fractures in 58 cases, and in 46 cases the nasal bones of the victims were broken, according to the data collected by Edgars Freimanis, assistant physician of the Trauma Center of the NMC Facial and Jaw Surgery of Stradiņa hospital.
Electric scooter. Photo: Eddy Palen/LETA
