Amputations occur when someone loses a limb or another body part after an injury or accident. Although amputations after a car accident are uncommon, they are still one of the most common reasons why someone suffers from an amputation, especially a traumatic amputation.

A traumatic amputation is when a person loses a limb or a digit, meaning a finger or toe as a result of an accident or injury. According to the National Limb Loss Information Center, 1.7 million Americans have had a limb amputated, and 1 in 200 Americans have suffered from an amputation.

If you suffered from a traumatic or non-traumatic amputation because of a car accident, you need to know your rights and seek compensation if your wreck resulted from someone else’s negligence.

Traumatic and Non-Traumatic Amputations Caused by Traffic Accidents

Different types of car accidents can lead to traumatic and non-traumatic amputations including car wrecks, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, and pedestrian accidents. Amputations may occur during the time of the injury itself if the accident was incredibly serious.

What’s more often the case is having a medical amputation after suffering from injuries in a traffic accident. Amputations often occur weeks or months after the initial injury.

Why would someone need to amputate a body part?

There are different reasons why doctors and medical professionals need to amputate a limb or another body part. These include:

• Infection: You may sustain open-wound injuries that result in infections. Cuts and other open wounds can become infected when bacteria resist antibiotics. Sadly, infections often occur within hospitals, and amputation may be a necessary step to prevent the infection from spreading to other parts of the body. 

• Crush injuries: If your muscles suffer from a crush injury, they can release toxins that can spread and be fatal. People often suffer from amputations because the toxins would otherwise result in kidney failure.

• Lacerations: Some lacerations in vehicular accidents can result in nerves and bones becoming mangled. The cuts result in injuries to certain body parts beyond repair, so they are then amputated.

Amputation Recovery

After suffering from an amputation, there are different steps on the road to recovery. Victims need to recover physically as much as possible. Amputations frequently need additional surgery even if the amputation was done medically. This may result because of an infection, or the person may undergo additional surgery to reshape their amputation to better suit prosthetics.

Those who suffer from amputations also have to deal with the emotional trauma of losing a limb, digit, or another body part. Amputees often struggle with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. They may also find it challenging to sleep or perform certain tasks, which can further hurt their emotional state. Amputees may need prescriptions for emotional trauma, sleep, or mood disorders.

Amputees also often need to undergo occupational recovery to re-learn certain tasks and activities. They may need to learn how to perform tasks such as cooking or cleaning with their new physical limitations. Occupational therapy aims to empower the amputee to be as independent as possible after their injury.

Damages After an Amputation

Victims of vehicular injuries that resulted from the wrongdoing of another person can recover many different types of damages. The medical bills and recovery expenses accumulate to a significant amount, and that’s before even considering lost wages and other types of damages.

If you had a body part amputated as a result of a car accident, you could recover damages for medical bills, prosthetics, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pain and suffering, emotional trauma, changes to environment, loss of consortium, and more.

Contact an Indiana Car Accident Lawyer

If you suffered from amputation because of the negligence of another driver, you shouldn’t have to pay out of pocket for your many expenses. You could suffer from permanent work limitations, or your injury may require a lifetime of costly expenses. You need expert car accident lawyers to help you hold the liable person accountable for your injuries.

For an Indiana car accident attorney you can count on, contact the lawyers at Poynter & Bucheri Accident Recovery Attorneys at Law. We’ve helped numerous Indiana residents receive the compensation they deserved for their vehicle damages and injuries, including amputation. Call our office at 1-800-265-9881 or you can schedule a free case review here.