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Suffering an amputation can occur for many reasons. Several traumatic experience can lead to amputation of a body part. This catastrophic injury can result in a lifetime of pain and suffering. A personal injury lawsuit against the company or people who caused it may be necessary to assure survivors have the resources they need for life.

Amputation Basics 

Johns Hopkins Medicine’ classifies amputations as two categories: surgical or traumatic. A traumatic amputation injury may have removed the limb or appendage partly, or in its totality. If the injury still leaves behind damaged tissue, further medical and surgical intervention may be necessary to remove the damaged tissue.

Some Causes of Amputations 

Traumatic injuries are by far the leading cause of upper body amputation, accounting for as many as 75 percent of them according to Stanford Medicine. Upper extremities that could risk facing amputation in these kinds of traumatic injuries include your arms, hands, fingers, and ears. The following are common causes of these debilitating traumatic injuries:

• Motor vehicle collisions;
• Construction hazards;
• Workplace hazards;
• Misuse of heavy machinery;
• Electrocution (which is technically death)/electric shock; and
• Agricultural hazards.

Experienced Attorneys Investigate Liability to Succeed in Complex Cases

It only takes a second and a careless moment for one’s life to change dramatically. In a workplace, the riskiest businesses are physically demanding and involve heavy machinery. Exposure to dangerous products or conditions anywhere increases risk as well. Construction work, industrial work, and work in large scale agricultural settings, increase the risk for amputation injuries, if:

•  Companies fail to follow appropriate safety precautions;
•  Workers neglect to turn off a machine or the electrical current;
• Negligent supervision contributes to an unsafe workplace or culture; or
• One neglects to operate industrial machinery properly.

Negligent machinery operation is one of the most common causes of these traumatic amputation injuries. According to data released a few years back by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,  machinery use was involved in more than half (or 58%) of all work related amputation injuries in 2018.

Trucking collisions or other bad motor vehicle collisions, deliberate acts of violence, or an unsafe, hazardous premises, or dangerous products in the workplace, at home, or at others’ places of business can lead to amputations. Even the high voltage electric shocks produced by faulty utility poles could potentially lead to loss of a limb. But on or off the clock, and on or off the road, the road to recovery from a traumatic, negligence-based amputation injury is a long and hard one.

Attorneys Add Value by Helping Forecast and Recover Money for Future Medical Care Needs

Following surgical intervention, the wound where the amputated appendage was may require extensive skin grafts, stitches, staples, and bandaging to heal properly. The amputee patient may initially struggle with phantom limb pain, a perceived sense of discomfort in the part of the limb that’s no longer there. After surgery, they often need to undergo months of intensive physical therapy to adjust to living without the missing limb.

Even if a prosthetic is able to be utilized, the stump where the amputation was made will typically require lifelong self-care to stay healthy and clean. Prosthesis or no prosthesis, the patient will also (most likely) require lifelong healthcare to cope with the enormous physical and psychological trauma of their injury.

Consider Ketterer, Browne, & Associates, LLC

This post is informational. Nonetheless, personal injury attorneys, such as those at KBA Attorneys, have decades of experience navigating the many intricacies of personal injury claims and how they affect every aspect of your life. Indeed, some of our greatest successes and closes clients have overcome amputation injuries and recovered meaningful sums. Every case is different and past results do not mean fu