Amputation involves the loss or removal of a limb due to traumatic injury, illness, or surgery. A traumatic injury can be the result of a serious Los Angeles car crash, trip and fall, or work-related accident. As a surgical procedure, doctors employ amputation to contain pain or a disease, such as gangrene or malignancy.

Typically, amputation injuries result from:

• Accidents involving motor vehicles
• Accidents involving industrial or agricultural machinery and equipment
• Violent crimes
• Medical malpractice
• Burns
• Electrical shock

Cost of an Amputation

An amputation is a harrowing event that leads to life-disrupting changes in the life of an amputee. Most amputees continue to face lifelong challenges that involve physical, emotional, and financial costs because of the amputation.

It is easier to calculate economic damages in monetary terms, like medical treatment costs, and loss of wages and salary. But it is hard to assign a monetary value to the pain and suffering, emotional trauma, or loss of consortium.

There are short-term and long-term costs associated with the loss of a limb. If you are a victim of an accident that results in amputation, you can legally recover compensation for both economic as well as non-economic damages. You may need compensation for:

Pain and Suffering

The life of an amputee is rarely pain-free. Months and years of spasms, inflammation, and phantom pain are the scourges that follow the amputation.

Emotional Distress

Apart from the physical trauma from the accident, there is emotional agony related to acceptance of the physical deformity, restriction of movement, changes in the daily lifestyle and activities, reliance on others for daily needs, or being financially unproductive.

All these and other stressors add up to a feeling of helplessness leading to mental health issues like depression and anxiety among the amputees.

Loss of Wages and Earning Potential

It becomes impossible for most amputees to return to the work they did prior to the trauma, or even to be able to work at all. Many must find alternative work that means earning far less than they were able to, before their amputation.

Loss of Consortium

A loss of consortium does not only mean the loss of sexual relations because of the physical disability. It includes loss of love and companionship; and a loss of the ability to fulfill basic domestic duties like housekeeping or childcare.

Quality of Life

Your amputation can affect your life, your lifestyle, your hobbies, and your passions – in innumerable ways. There can never be a precise formula to calculate and assign a monetary value to each of those things, but that does not take away their importance in your life.

Long-Term Medical Expenses

Apart from an increased need for follow-up hospital visits and post-surgery examinations, there is a general flare-up in illnesses like infections, inflammations, and rashes.

The sudden lack of inactivity brought on due to the lack of mobility makes an amputee prone to weight gain and fatigue. Assistive mobility devices and prosthetics add to the costs.

Rehabilitation

An amputee requires significant physical therapies, rehabilitation, and training, to relearn how to perform the basic everyday functions with a part of their bodies missing.

California Law for Personal Injury Damages

California does not have a cap on the maximum amount of damages for personal injury lawsuits. The non-economic damages in a medical malpractice claim in California have a limit of $250,000.

Punitive Damages in an Amputation Claim

California law provides for punitive damages to penalize a defendant over and above the victim’s claim if the court finds evidence of malice, fraud, or oppression.

Walch Law Firm

Your life is forever changed following a serious accident that requires the amputation of a body part. Do not suffer financially because of someone else’s negligence. At Walch Law, we have over four decades of experience winning these types of cases– call us now to learn more. (844)999-5342