What Are The Top Causes Of Amputation In A Personal Injury Case?

Out of the many causes of amputation, way too many of them come from injuries caused by someone else’s negligence that could have been avoided. Injuries that result in amputations, especially traumatic amputation injuries that happened during an accident are terrible experiences that come with life-altering changes.

Common Causes of Amputation?

The most common causes of amputation are usually related to existing diseases such as diabetes or cancer at 57%. Trauma-related amputations account for the remaining 43%. These general, large groups can be broken down into other categories of causes of amputations. Not all of these involve negligence, but those are the ones we are focusing on in this article.

The most common causes of amputations our personal injury lawyers see include the following:

Car Accidents

Car accidents, including motor vehicle accidents like boats, motorcycles, bicycles, or pedestrians are by far the leading cause of catastrophic injuries that result in amputation. In this type of accident, amputations can happen at the time of the accident or they may be the result of complications from the impact of the car.

It can be difficult to determine the exact causes of accidents involving cars. It requires deep knowledge of what kind of car was involved, and even manufacturing regulations. A skilled personal injury lawyer can help you research the root of the cause of the accident. This way the at-fault party is held accountable.

Dangerous Jobs

This is one of the less obvious leading causes of amputation, but still very prominent. Work-related catastrophic injuries are very common. Negligence directed to employees happens in construction work, food processing, industrial work, and agricultural work and can end in wounds so severe that can cause amputation.

For example, jobs at oil rigs are significantly dangerous and have very high rates of injuries such as electrocution, burns, cuts, or being crushed by heavy machinery.

Medical Malpractice

It is true that most doctors work as hard as they do to keep up healthy and happy. But sadly, mistakes are made sometimes. When these mistakes happen because of negligence, it may be possible to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit.

For example, some hospitals and doctors may sometimes fail to treat an injury fast enough, or they fail to treat a postoperative wound properly, resulting in gangrene, or fail to monitor diabetes treatment adequately, resulting in amputation. No matter what was the exact cause, losing a limb is a catastrophic price to pay for a medical professional’s negligence.

Amputation Statistics

According to the St. Olaf study, 1 in every 190 Americans currently live with a loss of a limb. However, awareness about the effects of amputation is very low. The following are statistics that might help express the amputation’s scope both in the US and globally:

• Over 2 million people in the US have had a limb amputated
• In the US, around 180,000 amputations happen every year
• Globally, around 1 million amputations happen every year
• African-Americans are 4 times more likely to have a limb amputated than white Americans
• Approximately, 2 per 10,000 manufacturing employees suffer from amputation injuries every year. As well as 1.5 per 10,000 employees at construction sites

These numbers are only growing. This study predicts that over 3 million Americans will have a limb amputated by 2050.

The Side Effects of Amputation?

Complications of an amputation can extend way beyond the loss of a limb. These can include:

• Physical complications: deep vein thrombosis, phantom limb pain, and infection
• Emotional complications: body image issues and depression

Amputation can also take a big financial toll on the person who had their limb amputated, as well as their family. Especially if this amputation doesn’t allow them to continue working. 

If you or a loved one’s amputation was caused by one of the causes we mentioned above, the Cogburn Law team of personal injuries attorneys in Henderson and Las Vegas are here to help you.

Personal Injury Attorneys In Las Vegas

Cogburn Law has decades of experience handling various amputation cases. Our team works tirelessly to hold the negligent parties responsible for your injuries and to protect our client’s rights. To get a free initial consultation, call us at (702) 747-6000.