A traumatic amputation is arguably one of the most devastating injuries that a car accident victim in Las Vegas can suffer.
Amputations can leave victims physically and mentally traumatized.
Victims who sustain an amputation injury from a car accident may experience adverse consequences on their mobility, ability to work, active social life, and emotional and mental health.
Victims could require extensive medical treatment, physical therapy, counseling, prosthetics, rehabilitation, and adaptive devices to restore function and mobility.
Victims also need modifications to their homes due to such a catastrophic injury.
Understanding Amputation Injuries In Car Accidents
An amputation injury is the removal or loss of a body part, usually a limb or digit, due to trauma, disease, or surgery.
Car crashes involve a lot of force which can shatter glass and mangle even durable metal. The traumatic pressure in a devastating accident can cause an extremity to be violently severed from a car occupant’s body.
An accident could trap a limb, damaging it so severely that doctors have no other option but to amputate it.
You instinctively use your extremities to protect yourself during an accident. As a result, these extremities could suffer injuries while attempting to prevent an injury to your head, face, or neck.
Other car accident victims may undergo amputations after a car accident due to complications from injuries that were sustained in the crash.
Common Causes Of Amputations From Car Accidents
Some of the most common causes of amputations in or following car accidents include:
Crush Injuries And Compartment Syndrome
A limb may end up being crushed in a car accident, causing injuries like broken bones, lacerations, and soft tissue damage, ultimately leading to losing the limb.
Crush injuries resulting from a car crash can deceive even trained first responders, who may not always see the immediate danger. If treatment is delayed, a crush injury can lead to losing a limb, kidney failure or death.
Crush injuries can also lead to a medical condition called compartment syndrome –
A painful and dangerous condition caused by pressure build-up from internal bleeding or swelling of tissues.
If left untreated for a long time, compartment syndrome can also result in amputation.
Lacerations
A laceration is a wound resulting from the tearing of soft body tissue. This type of injury is often irregular and jagged. A laceration wound is often contaminated with bacteria and debris from whatever object caused the cut.
The most common reason for an amputation is a wound that does not heal. Often this can be from not having enough blood flow to that limb.
Severe lacerations to the extremities that go deep enough into the muscle and other soft tissues may cause enough damage that the limb cannot be salvaged and must be amputated.
Infection
An infection caused by injuries from a car accident can become severe, destroying tissues in a limb and causing sepsis.
If the infection affects a body part in a way that makes it impossible to repair or endangers the person’s life, it may be removed by surgical amputation. Drug-resistant bacteria can overwhelm the body and spread throughout the bloodstream.
Sepsis can affect blood flow and cause tissue to die, especially in the toes, fingers, hands, and feet.
Vascular Damage
Vascular problems can lead to tissue death in the toes, feet, and legs.
A car accident can also damage the significant blood vessels in a limb. Without sufficient blood flow, the tissue in the limb may begin to cease to function, requiring amputation.
Complications That Result From An Amputation
An amputation suffered in or because of a car accident in Las Vegas can lead to a wide range of possible complications, including severe blood loss that might require multiple transfusions, blood clots because of the resulting loss of mobility, and a more sedentary lifestyle, postoperative infections, and phantom pain – the condition where amputee continues to experience the sensation of still having their missing limbs, often accompanied by constant pain.
Victims of amputations often suffer from mental health issues like anxiety and depression, especially when they can no longer work, participate in activities they previously enjoyed, or perform basic tasks of daily living.
Compensation For Amputation Injuries
When you lose a body part, you have suffered a permanent injury. Even if doctors can fit you with a prosthesis, you can never regain the function of your actual body part.
You may be entitled to more significant compensation for your amputation injury.
The medical expenses for treating an amputation tend to be pretty significant. You might lose months of income while you recover from your injuries. Your earning capacity might be remarkably compromised after you lose a limb or other body part.
At Pacific West Injury Law, our Las Vegas traumatic injury lawyers will work tirelessly to recover compensation for medical expenses, including surgeries, hospital stays, ongoing and future treatment, prosthetic devices and adaptive equipment, physical and occupational therapy, lost wages, diminished earning capacity, home modifications for accessibility, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Pacific West Injury Law – Enhancing The Quality Of Life For Amputees And Their Families Through Competent Legal Representation
Living with an amputation can be challenging. The Las Vegas car accident lawyers at our personal injury law firm will work with medical professionals and therapists and enlist the services of a life care planner to devise a life care plan for your future that would include securing sufficient resources for vocational training or educational opportunities to help you return to your job or pursue new career opportunities. We will ensure you have the tools and support necessary to adapt, live independently, and even thrive after your injury.
Contact A Las Vegas Amputation Injury Lawyer Now
If you or a loved one has suffered an amputation injury in a car accident due someone else’s careless or negligent operation of a motor vehicle in Las Vegas, Henderson, or North Las Vegas, you deserve to be duly compensated for the injuries suffered and other damages. Early legal intervention allows your attorney to gather essential evidence, secure witness statements, and avoid potential legal pitfalls to protect your rights throughout the recovery process.
Call an experienced Las Vegas amputation injury lawyer at our firm for a free and confidential case evaluation immediately.
