What Are The Long Term Effects Of A Leg Amputation In Virginia?

Key Highlights:

• What are the long-term effects of a leg amputation in Virginia? Many amputees continue to experience residual limb or phantom pain for years or decades after completing reconstruction.

• Amputation is considered to be a life change, not simply an injury. 

• Prosthetic legs will need to be refitted and replaced frequently for the rest of their lives. And losing a leg overworks the sound leg, hip, and back over time.

• Virginia follows the “1% Rule” for all personal injury claims when deciding whether or not someone was responsible for the injury. The catastrophic injury lawyer Virginia must prove fault in order to recover any damages from an accident. 

Your leg amputation due to injury isn’t just one injury and one recovery; it is a permanent change that affects your body, your finances, and your future forever. The first month of bills you receive is only the beginning. 

In this blog by amputation injury lawyers at Tatum & Atkinson Law Firm, we will look at what are the long-term effects of a leg amputation in Virginia, what the long journey entails, and how much a claim should provide for.

Call our caring Virginia injury attorneys now at (800) 529-0804 for a free consultation to learn how to protect yourself and your family.

What Is a Traumatic Leg Amputation Virginia

The loss of part or all of your leg due to an accident is known as a traumatic leg amputation. This can occur either from complete severance during the vehicle accident event, or from surgical removal several days later when a physician has determined it cannot be saved. 

In Virginia, traumatic leg amputation is commonly the result of high-energy events such as car and motorcycle crashes, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, and work-related crush injuries. Regardless of how you lost your leg, you will deal with the emotional, physical, and psychological consequences for the rest of your life.

Emergency Medical Intervention and Initial Stabilization 

The trauma team saves the patient’s life before considering future implications of the injury by making sure there is no major loss of blood, performing the necessary surgery to remove the remainder of the limb, and preventing or controlling any potential infections. 

Patients who receive an amputation have many of their first several days in an intensive care unit (ICU) with potentially multiple operations before the wound stabilizes.

The First Year: Relearning How to Move

During the first year of recovery, one must work through the intricacies of the healing process, the custom fitting of prosthetics, and rehabilitation to achieve basic mobility. 

Healing and the First Prosthetic

After an amputation, it could take months before having the first prosthetic leg because the residual limb requires healing and shrinking before a proper fitting can occur. Furthermore, after the initial fitting, a socket will be modified continually until the limb has reached a stable shape, so it’s not a one-and-done fitting process. 

Physical and Occupational Therapy

Rehab will rebuild muscle strength and teach the victim how to walk correctly again with a prosthetic limb. Since walking will use far more energy when using a prosthetic limb compared to natural walking, the risk of becoming fatigued during the early stages of using a prosthetic will be high. Occupational therapists will help you re-learn daily activities that are taken for granted, such as taking a shower, climbing stairs, or carrying a cup of coffee from one end of the room to another. 

What Are the Long-Term Effects of A Leg Amputation in Virginia

The experience of having a leg amputated can alter every part of a survivor’s future through permanent skeletal imbalance, persistent nerve pain, and significant psychological effects. 

Phantom and Residual-Limb Pain

Phantom limb pain and residual limb pain (pain at the amputation site) are common after amputations. A national survey of amputees found that approximately 80% of amputees had phantom limb pain, and about two-thirds of amputees had residual limb pain for years, rather than it going away.

Wear on the Rest of the Body

Arthritis, chronic back pain, muscle imbalance, and skin breakdown between the prosthesis and limb are symptoms of these natural changes in your body. This is because the sound leg, hips, and lower back take on work that it wasn’t designed to bear due to the amputation.

The Mental-Health Impact

A person may experience grief, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress due to the sudden loss of a limb, as well as challenges with body image and independence as they recover from the amputation and related medical issues. These are real aspects of the recovery process, and they will be duly considered in the traumatic amputation injury claims process. 

The Lifetime Price Tag

A leg amputation has costs measured in decades rather than in the initial hospital bill; a prosthetic leg has to be replaced every few years, with its own cost. 

There are also costs to modify the home and vehicle, vocational rehabilitation, and loss of income from no longer being able to perform the job for which you were trained. Published studies estimate that the lifetime cost of medical care for lower limb amputations exceeds a total of $1,000,000 before any employment-related income loss.

Proving a Leg-Amputation Claim in Virginia

Obtaining proper compensation following an amputation entails the collaboration of a team of skilled professionals in estimating costs and presenting a compelling case in compliance with Virginia’s strict liability laws. 

What You Can Recover

A Virginia personal injury claim can include reimbursement for past and future medical expenses, lost income, lost future earning potential, pain and suffering, and permanence of disability. There is no cap on pain and suffering in Virginia for most claims, so the full effect of your loss will be able to be put before the jury for consideration. 

The Experts Behind the Number

Numerous professionals work together to establish the economic value of a catastrophic injury including the treating physician (who provides documentation of the permanence of the injury), a life care planner (who projects the cost of care and medical equipment needed over a lifetime), a vocational expert (who evaluates loss of earning potential), and an economist (who computes the present value of the future losses). We, the Heavy Hitters, use this documentation to prepare an effective catastrophic injury claim. 

The 1% Rule and the Deadline

Virginia’s pure contributory negligence rule means that if a plaintiff is found to be even 1% responsible for their injuries, they will be barred from recovering. Thus, if you are injured in an accident, you must first prove that the other party was responsible for causing the accident. Additionally, VA Code § 8.01-243 requires that most personal injury claims be filed within two years from the date of injury. 

Protect Your Long-Term Recovery with a Trusted Virginia Injury Lawyer 

A sudden accident can alter your life forever; however, the consequences of that accident, both financially and physically, will be present for many years. If you are wondering what are the long-term effects of a leg amputation in Virginia? The answer goes far beyond persistent pain and phantom limb syndromes. A successful injury claim must account for the lifetime of financial obligations, and not just your current bills. 

Attorney Jon Ward, along with the Heavy Hitters at Tatum & Atkinson, has been providing representation for clients who have suffered catastrophic injuries throughout Southwest Virginia from our Cedar Bluff office location. We will help you gather the economic evidence necessary to meet the burden of proof for your claim and to combat the defenses created by insurance carriers under Virginia’s complicated insurance laws. 

Make sure you get the permanent disability compensation you deserve for your future. Contact Tatum & Atkinson today at (800) 529-0804 for a free, no-obligation consultation. 

FAQs: What Are the Long-Term Effects of a Leg Amputation in Virginia?

How is a leg-amputation claim valued in Virginia?

The value depends on lifetime projections such as the estimate of future medical expenses, prosthetic leg costs, therapy, and income lost, plus emotional distress. Since Virginia does not limit the amount of money you can be compensated for your pain and suffering, emotional trauma also has a large impact on the amount you can recover.

What if my amputation happened at work?

If you suffered a catastrophic injury, you probably have a Virginia workers’ compensation claim that will provide you with lifetime medical benefits. You may also have a claim against an at-fault third party, such as a subcontractor. 

Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?

It’s important to establish who was responsible for causing an accident, since in Virginia, if the injured party is even 1% responsible, they will not be able to receive any type of compensation, so that is why it is very critical to prove who caused the accident at the outset of your injury claim. 

What does hiring a lawyer cost?

We don’t charge you anything in advance. We work on a contingency basis, so there are no fees unless we recover money for you. Additionally, we also offer a free initial consultation. 

About the Author

Robert Tatum

Robert Tatum is the founding attorney at Tatum & Atkinson. He is licensed to practice in all North Carolina state and federal courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2002 and his B.S. from the University of Virginia in 1999. His practice focuses on personal injury law. Connect with him on LinkedIn.