Amputations From Accidents: Injury Victims Deserve Compensation
Accidents of all varieties happen every day in the Dallas Fort Worth area. These are among the most serious of all permanent injuries. Amputation injuries pose a serious risk if you work in the construction industry, ride motorcycles or even get into a severe car accident. No one plans for the type of catastrophic injury that an amputation represents, but statistically they happen every day. If one’s amputation was the result of another person’s or companies negligence, then there is the potential of a legal claim to recover compensation for the amputation and resulting medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages.
Amputation Statistics in the United States Amputation injuries are a serious, ongoing problem in the United States, and even right here in Texas. Patients undergo roughly 185,000 amputation surgeries every year, and approximately 10% of those injuries are required because of an accident leading to serious trauma. That means that as many as 18,500 people are injured every year in accidents serious enough to warrant an amputation. If you average that out, it’s enough for someone to undergo an amputation surgery due to serious trauma in all 50 states every single day.
Types of Amputation Injuries Of the trauma-related amputation injuries, the National Limb Loss Amputation Center estimates that roughly 70% involve upper limb trauma. This means people are injured and may need to have all or a portion of arm, hand or fingers amputated. Even very minor amputations can lead to trouble performing a job or doing every-day tasks. More serious amputations may render you unable to perform your job, and may require advanced treatment and technology such as prosthetic devices and long-term rehabilitation. In a worst-case scenario, you could become permanently disabled by a serious amputation injury.
Dealing with the Aftermath of an Amputation Injury If the worst does happen and you suffer a serious amputation injury, you could be left with no job, a host of medical bills and lasting mental trauma. How do you deal with the aftermath of a catastrophic amputation injury? Depending on the situation, you may have several options for dealing with both the financial and the health-related issues:
If you got your amputation injury in an accident, you may be entitled to a financial recovery for medical bills, loss of work and emotional trauma;
If you suffer an injury on the job, your employer may be obligated to provide you with long-term disability payments or a settlement to compensate you for being unable to work;
AND
You may need to undergo multiple surgeries, painful rehabilitation or counseling to recover from the emotional trauma of an amputation injury.
If you or a loved one has suffered an accident related amputation, please consult an experienced amputation attorney in the Fort Worth/Dallas area to talk about your rights. Mark Anderson offers free consultations for people who have suffered amputation injuries, so call or contact us on the Web today to take advantage of your FREE consultation.
