Amputation Injury Attorney in Louisiana

The loss of a limb, digit, or other extremity can be one of the most traumatic events of someone’s life. Amputation injuries require patients to undergo intensive therapy, sometimes multiple surgeries, and basically re-learn how to do everything less one limb.

If you or a loved one has experienced an accident that required an amputation, you might be reeling from how your life has changed. Medical bills, lost wages, and an inability to work can cost you thousands of dollars, and you might not know where to turn.

The Louisiana amputation lawyers at Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys have decades of experience helping amputation victims recover needed compensation to begin to heal from their injuries. Give us a call today for a free consultation about your situation.

How a Lost Limb Can Impact Your Life

Losing a limb can be extremely traumatizing, both physically and emotionally. Amputation and other catastrophic injury victims can experience pain every day for months or even years. Plus, the loss of a limb can render them unable to work at their previous job, or even at all.

Other ongoing symptoms that amputation victims can face include the following:

• Exhaustion or fatigue caused by the increased effort an amputee must exert to perform the same tasks as before
• A greater risk of infection if an amputee’s stump breaks down or reopens
• Loss of mobility
• Loss of dexterity
• Deep vein thrombosis is a blood-clotting condition that can cause pulmonary embolism, or a potentially deadly blood clot in the lungs
• Muscle contractures, which can affect an amputee’s ability to fit a prosthetic, cause them pain, and a host of other side effects
• Phantom limb pain, an effect where the amputee still feels their severed limb, is fairly common
• Issues with body image, such as self-consciousness about their appearance, hiding the affected limb, and others
• Social isolation can result from the amputee being unable to participate in activities they previously enjoyed

In addition to these symptoms, the financial toll of an amputation can be devastating to victims and their families. Studies have shown that the average cost faced by an amputee in hospital treatments is around $30,000—and that’s before factoring in the costs of prosthetic limbs, which can bring the cost of an amputated limb over a patient’s life to over $400,000.

What Causes Amputations in Louisiana?

A number of accidents can either directly cause a traumatic amputation, or so thoroughly destroy the tissue so as to require a surgical amputation:

• Traffic accidents, such as car crashes, truck accidents, and motorcycle wrecks
• Industrial workplace accidents
• Burns
• Crush injuries
• Infection
• Frostbite or other conditions that cut off circulation to the affected limb
• Maritime and offshore accidents
• Agricultural accidents
• Firearm accidents
• Medical malpractice

According to a study by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Louisiana sees an average of 74 amputations a year, the majority of which are work-related. This could be partly due to Louisiana’s manufacturing industry—across that industry as a whole, amputation is a serious risk, causing more than 1,400 injuries annually. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported that Louisiana is one of four states where amputation injuries are most common.

What causes amputation injuries at work? Most of the time, it’s because a worker fails to operate a machine with the proper safeguards in place due to a lack of training. It’s the employer’s responsibility to properly train employees how to use machinery safely and effectively, so when someone gets hurt due to improper training, the employer could be held liable for their injury.

What to Do After Losing a Limb

If you’ve recently suffered an amputation injury at work or after a car accident, you might be unsure of what to do. Paying for your mounting medical bills, ongoing therapy, assistive devices, and prosthesis can be prohibitively expensive. And if you’ve lost your ability to work due to your injuries—especially likely in manufacturing and other industrial jobs, where amputations are more common—you might not know how you’re going to pay for your treatment.

If your injury was the result of someone else’s negligence, you deserve compensation for your injuries. The compassionate team of amputation injury lawyers at Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys are here to help you find the financial compensation you need to begin to heal.

Give us a call at 888.501.7888 for a free legal consultation about your case. We’re dedicated to helping you move on with your life.