Amputations

Catastrophic Injuries Can Lead to an Amputation or Disfigurement

An amputation is considered to be any type of removal of a limb, which can be as minor as a finger digit or as major as an entire leg. Disfigurement refers to any permanent damage to an individual’s soft tissue or bone, which can include other injuries like nerve damage and serious scarring.

Both amputations and disfigurement are life-changing and permanent, and these types of injuries many times result from traumatic accidents that were caused by someone else’s negligence. These types of personal injury cases always require specialized, experienced attorneys who understand just how complex these settlement processes tend to be.

Amputee and disfigurement victims will always go through intricate, expensive medical rehabilitation procedures, and the changes in lifestyle are so grandiose that it’s sometimes difficult to adequately quantify. But if someone else acted out recklessly or negligently and caused your injuries, then you will always have an opportunity to file a lawsuit and secure the necessary compensation to cover these medical expenses and all of your other incurred damages.

Our team of personal injury experts has supported countless accident victims with successful case results since our beginnings over 20 years ago, and all of us at Siler & Ingber have the knowledge and overall experience to ensure that you get your maximum, rightful compensation.

We know just how devastating these types of serious injuries can be on an accident victim and their family, and we’re always here to help make the rehabilitation and transition process much easier by taking care of your legal needs so you can focus more on your recovery.

What Causes an Amputation or Disfigurement?

There are a great number of injuries that can result in an amputation or disfigurement, and they can range from things like a simple infection to a catastrophic construction workplace injury. This is partly because many types of physical disfiguring to the face or body, or removal of any body part, are all compiled together into these case types.

Limb loss injuries and serious disfigurement may seem rather rare, but about 2 million Americans today are suffering from these types of injuries, and about 185,000 amputations occur each year just in the United States!

Some of the more common causes of amputation injury cases include the following:

• Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD): This is a circulatory disease that ends up causing a significant buildup of fat in an individual’s arteries, which can subsequently lead to a lack of blood flow to and from the patient’s legs. This is an issue that can be treated with timely medical attention, but if someone doesn’t get this issue treated in time it can lead to critical limb ischemia (CLI). CLI causes the skin to go pale, dry and cold. The main issues associated with PAD occur the longer it goes untreated because this issue can end up leading to serious problems like gangrene, ulcers, sores and muscle atrophy. In the most serious of all PAD cases, amputation becomes the only method of saving the patient’s life.
• Diabetes: Extremely high blood sugar levels that a lot of diabetics deal with can end up creating nerve damage within their blood vessels. This can ultimately increase the overall necessity of amputation in order to prevent further spreading. This type of nerve damage is known as peripheral neuropathy, and it can be treated through proper medical attention. But if someone doesn’t get this condition treated properly, they can be at a high risk of infection and ulcer formations within the specific bodily area.
• Cancer: There are some rare instances in which amputation is needed in order to keep bone and skin cancer patients alive.
• Trauma: Limbs and digits can become seriously injured, crushed, burned or even partially torn off in a variety of catastrophic accidents. Traumatic injuries are one of the main causes of amputations because this can help the patient prevent deadly infections from spreading throughout their body. Some of the common causes of trauma that result in amputations and/or disfigurement lawsuits include the following:
  • Dog bites
  • Fires/hot liquids/chemical burns
  • Serious fractures from work accidents
  • Road rash
  • Car accidents
  • Cycling accidents
  • Tour bus accidents
  • Motorcycle crashes
  • Airplane accidents
  • Pedestrian accidents
  • Defective Products
  • Medical Malpractice
  • And a lot more…

What Differentiates Amputation and Disfigurement Cases?

The permanent nature and overall extensiveness of these types of injuries are a clear indication to the medical expenses that amputation and disfigurement patients must face. This typically doesn’t even include the necessity for continuing care once the patient has undergone surgery and a thorough rehabilitation process. Every amputation patient will need long-term physical therapy, medical equipment, medications and frequent doctor visits (among other tasks) for the rest of their lifetime.

Many people who go through these catastrophic injuries also endure psychological injuries for many years afterwards that coincide with the general severity of their physical pain. Socially coping with an amputation is also a major obstacle that patients face, and the overall “loss of enjoyment/quality of life” is typically a non-economic damage in these types of cases that can result in millions of dollars for the victim.

We all know that there are many activities and sports that amputees can still participate within, but making these adjustments will always take a lot of time and is difficult for the victim and their entire family. The Amputee Coalition is a great online resource for amputee victims and their loved ones to learn more about what they can do for self-betterment after long rehabilitations are completed.

Another crucial differentiation in these cases is that the facts tend to be rather complicated. These cases always require much more medical testimony than normal personal injury cases, and insurance companies will typically make sure that you and your attorney sort through countless pages of material.

Proving fault can also be a major legal battle in amputation/disfigurement cases, especially when there are multiple parties involved in the causation of the injury. There are also many amputation cases that must accuse third parties, including situations involving machinery manufacturers, defective products and improper safety warnings.

Amputation and disfigurement cases are always complex because they will often blend multiple personal injury fields together within one case, and the associated damages are typically much higher than in other less debilitating accident cases.

Hire an Experienced Long Island Amputation and Disfigurement Attorney to Protect Your Legal Rights

If you or a loved one has suffered an amputation or disfiguring injury that was caused by another person’s negligence, then you should contact us for a free case review so we can go over the details of your accident and determine the most effective initial steps towards legal action.

Siler & Ingber, LLP is thoroughly experienced in handling amputation and disfigurement injury cases, and we will always be aggressive in terms of pursuing your maximum monetary recovery to cover everything, including your medical expenses, lost wages, loss of quality of life, pain and suffering and many other compensatory damages.

We’ll help you get the answers you need, and we will work tirelessly from the moment your free consultation ends to obtain the necessary funds to help make such a debilitating injury easier to cope with.