In the United States, nearly two million people live with limb loss. While many people lose limbs as a result of vascular diseases, as many as 45% of those two million people lose limbs because of trauma.
An amputation injury can severely impact your life, affecting your earning potential and impacting your quality of life. If you’ve suffered this type of injury because of someone else’s negligence, it’s essential that you reach out to personal injury lawyers to get the representation you deserve.
Learn more about amputation injuries, how they occur, and why filing a personal injury claim can make a difference.
Amputation Injuries: What They Are
An amputation injury refers to the complete or partial removal of a limb or extremity. Amputations can be surgical if an infection spreads and removing the affected body part can prevent further complications, or they can be traumatic, such as when operating heavy or dangerous machinery that malfunctions and damages a limb.
In some instances, even crush injuries might require amputating a limb or other body part.
Common Causes of Amputation Injuries
There are a number of ways in which an amputation can occur, but there are some common causes of these injuries in Rock Hill, SC.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Crashes involving cars, trucks, motorcycles, and even bicycles are among the leading causes of amputations. In many instances, a limb is so badly injured because of the car accident that the only option is to remove the body part. The impact itself can also cause the loss of a limb.
Electrical Shocks
High-voltage electrical shocks can lead to tissue necrosis while also causing severe damage to underlying structures, including muscles, bones, and blood vessels. Often, the only option for these severe injuries is to amputate the affected part.
Workplace Accidents
People who work in construction, mining, and other dangerous environments can be at risk of all manner of severe injuries, including amputation. Working with power tools could lead to limb loss, as can crush injuries involving heavy machinery. Even falling injuries can result in amputations.
These injuries often occur because of a lack of proper safety measures, malfunctioning machinery, and even improper staff training.
Defective Products
Using a product that has design or manufacturing errors or one that doesn’t have the necessary warnings can lead to serious injuries. This is particularly true with malfunctioning industrial and power tools.
Severe Infections
Accidents like dog bites can lead to infections that could spread. You can also suffer exposure to chemicals or a laceration from a piece of machinery at work and develop a life-threatening infection that requires an amputation.
Medical Malpractice
A procedure that a medical professional doesn’t perform correctly can result in many types of complications that can lead to needing an amputation. The same is true if the medications that a doctor prescribes lead to tissue death.
The Impact of an Amputation Injury
An amputation injury can be devastating. These are catastrophic injuries that have many ramifications throughout your life.
Many people who suffer these kinds of injuries struggle with mobility and dexterity. Moving freely can become difficult, even with a prosthetic limb, and you may struggle with balance issues if you’ve lost a foot or leg.
It’s common for people who go through an amputation to experience phantom limb pain or stump pain. Stump pain is pain that occurs at the damaged nerves at the site of the amputation, while phantom limb pain feels as if you’re experiencing discomfort in the lost limb.
Muscle contractures, or the shortening and tightening of the remaining muscles in the affected area, are another common issue experienced by people with amputated limbs. It affects those with lower body amputations the most.
Deep vein thrombosis is also a concern for those who’ve had an amputation. This is a blood clotting issue, and it can lead to a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism, which is when a part of a clot breaks away and travels to the lungs.
There are serious emotional and psychological effects as well. It’s not uncommon for someone who’s gone through a traumatic experience like an accident that led to an amputation to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. You may experience flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, and many other emotional issues that impact your quality of life.
People who’ve suffered an amputation injury can also experience self-esteem and body image issues. This could have a social impact on their lives, potentially leading them to isolate themselves.
Compensatory Damages for an Amputation Injury
If the amputation injury you suffered was the result of someone else’s negligence, filing a personal injury claim means being able to get compensation for the losses you’ve suffered. In South Carolina, you can claim both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are those that come with a price tag. Medical expenses belong in this category.
Economic damages can cover many expenses, including:
- Hospital stays
- Rehabilitation therapy
- Medication
- Mobility devices
- Prosthetics
If you need to make changes to your home or car to accommodate the injury, that’s also covered. In some cases, you may require ongoing medical care, which can also be included in medical expenses.
An amputation injury can lead you to miss a significant number of work days. You may not even be able to return to your previous job because of the injury. By claiming lost wages, you can get reimbursed for the days you missed or for your earning potential that you’ll now not be able to fulfill.
Non-economic damages are more complex because they are subjective. Pain and suffering belong in this category, and it strives to compensate you for the physical and psychological distress you’ve undergone because of the injury.
People who’ve experienced an amputation injury can also claim loss of enjoyment of life. If your amputation doesn’t allow you to live your life the way you did before the accident, this is something that you can claim.
Turning To Rock Hill Personal Injury Lawyers for Help After an Amputation Injury
Going through an accident that leads to an amputation injury can turn your life inside out. You may find yourself struggling with physical issues, mental health concerns, and medical bills without knowing what you should do. If the accident that led to your injury wasn’t your fault, why should you struggle with all of this on your own?
It’s important to turn to a catastrophic injury lawyer for help. These claims can be complex, especially when dealing with severe injuries that require ongoing care, so you want to have experienced personal injury lawyers by your side.
Call Elrod Pope Accident & Injury Attorneys in Rock Hills, SC, at 803-324-7574 to get started.