Amputations and Infections

Our personal injury lawyers unfortunately have seen far too many cases involving traumatic amputations. In many of these cases, the tragedy is compounded by infection that sets in shortly after the original trauma. If one loses a leg below the knee, for example, and there is an immediate amputation after the traumatic event, it is not uncommon to see subsequent amputations due to the development of infection. In some cases we have handled, there have been problems with gangrene, which required multiple amputations. The patient may start off with a below the knee amputation and end up with one above the knee.
All amputation cases arising from trauma are serious cases and must be handled with the utmost care and attention to detail. Obviously, the medical professionals have to deal with the complications caused by infections subsequent to the traumatic event but counsel must also be alert to the complicating features of such developments in each case. For example, when one develops an infection shortly after a traumatic event, they are not typically eligible to be fitted with a prosthetic device. The longer the infection lingers and the treatment necessary to treat it, the longer it is before the patient is eligible to receive the prosthesis. Studies have indicated that the length of time from the passage of the original traumatic event to the time when the patient is fitted with a prosthesis is very important because the longer the wait, the greater the difficulty for the patient. Indeed, this is one of the problems with infection because it delays the fitting of the prosthesis and thus delays the patient’s rehabilitation, sometimes with long term effects.
Whether the amputation be to a finger or a limb, the complexities of these cases are always unique to the individual patient and the case. It is imperative that counsel understand the long term sequelae of infection because such infections can have a bearing on a client’s long term prognosis and therefore their long term medical needs and vocational, physical and emotional challenges.