An amputation is a life-altering injury with permanent consequences for the injury victim and their family. Fortunately, there are many resources and support opportunities to help an amputee find a new normal and lead a happy, fulfilling life. At the beginning of the journey, it’s nearly impossible for an injury victim and their loved ones to fathom the full scope of the economic consequences of their amputation injury.
What Types of Amputations Cause Life-Altering Damages?
Even a planned, surgical amputation to address a diseased body part or medical condition is devastating, but it’s particularly tragic to face the loss of a limb in an accident caused by someone else’s actions, such as negligence, recklessness, or wrongdoing. Car accidents, workplace injuries, property owner negligence, and medical malpractice are common causes of life-altering amputations, such as the following:
- The amputation of several fingers or toes
- Partial hand or foot amputations
- Amputations at the ankle or wrist
- Amputations below the knee or elbow
- Amputations above the knee or elbow
- Amputations of the entire arm
- Amputations of the entire leg
The loss of an eye is also a life-altering amputation.
Understanding the Full Cost of an Amputation
After an accidental amputation, the injury victim first undergoes expensive trauma care in the emergency room to prevent hemorrhaging and to mitigate the deadly effects of shock. Then, an amputee faces the following:
- Surgical procedures to address the lost part, such as preparing the remainder of a limb for a prosthetic
- Medical care during healing to prevent infection and other complications, such as blood clots and pneumonia
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation to learn to use a prosthetic, and for alternative methods to accomplish routine tasks
- Occupational therapy to address reduced earning capacity and to assist an amputee in regaining self-sufficiency and independence
- Pain-management costs
- The costs of an initial prosthetic limb, plus a lifetime of prosthetic maintenance, repair, and replacements
- Modification costs for the home and vehicle
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for amputees to lose their jobs, which also means losing health insurance benefits.
What About the Physical and Emotional Costs of Amputations?
Learning to adjust to life without a limb is more than financially costly; it’s also physically painful and causes deep emotional anguish. Amputees face severe pain during the healing process and then a painful recovery period as they become accustomed to a prosthetic. For example, an amputee must place their body weight on a stump for an amputation below the knee as they become accustomed to a prosthetic leg.
Many amputees also experience recurring “phantom pain,” a common condition causing an amputee to feel pain in the limb that no longer exists. Most amputees also suffer serious emotional consequences after an amputation. While no two amputees react in the same way, many report feeling emotions such as grief, mourning, anger, depression, anxiety, PTSD, loss of self-confidence, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Recovering Normalcy After an Amputation
According to the Amputee Coalition, there are five stages to emotional recovery after an amputation:
- Enduring: when an amputee primarily focuses on enduring the physical pain of limb loss
- Suffering: when the amputee deals with the emotional aspect of an amputated body part, including depression, anxiety, and fear for the future
- Reckoning: the period of coming to terms with the future and the changes brought by the amputation
- Reconciling: or regaining physical and emotional control, beginning to self-manage recovery and planning for the future
- Normalizing: or becoming accustomed to a new normal by establishing new routines and resuming activities other than those related to the amputation
- Thriving: or beginning to fully enjoy life again despite the amputation, achieving personal goals, and maybe even becoming a mentor or role model for other amputees
When someone else’s negligence or recklessness causes an amputation, the injury victim has the right to seek compensation through a personal injury claim. Recovering financial compensation for the full financial, physical, and emotional costs of an amputation allows an injury victim to focus on moving forward through the painful and emotional stages of accepting their loss, with fewer financial concerns. Let our St. Louis personal injury attorneys guide you through this process.