Amputations Resulting from a Car Accident - St. Louis Injury Lawyer

Car accidents can cause life altering injuries such as amputation. A crash can leave the victim with upper or lower limb amputations, or partial or complete amputations. Irrespective of the type of amputation the victim suffers in the car accident, the results are often severe and affect the life of not only the victim, but his/her entire family. In this post, our St. Louis car wreck lawyer will discuss the various types of amputations that can result from car accidents.

Lower Limb Amputations

Lower limb amputations can range from partial severing of a toe to the loss of an entire leg. Lower limb amputations can be classified as:

Partial foot amputation: It usually involves severing of one or more toes. It affects walking and balance.

Ankle disarticulation: This refers to the amputation of foot at the ankle. Victims of ankle disarticulation may be able to move about with the help of prosthesis.

Transtibial amputation: These are below knee amputations, i.e. removal of the leg below the knee joint. However, the knee joint still remains functional.

Knee amputations: It refers to the removal of the lower leg and also the knee joint. However, the femur is intact, so the remaining part of the leg is still about to bear weight.

Transfemoral amputations: These are above knee amputations, i.e. amputation of the entire leg

Hip disarticulation: As the name suggests, it means removal of the entire leg up to the hip joint.

Upper Limb Amputations

Upper limb amputations vary from the partial severing of a finger to the loss of the entire arm. These amputations are classified as:

Partial hand amputation: This involves removal of fingertips, part of finger, or whole finger. The thumb is the most common single digit lost due to trauma. This causes the victim to lose their ability to manipulate, grasp, and pick up objects. If no other fingers are removed, the hand can still perform some functions, however with much less precision.

Metacarpal amputation: This refers to the removal of entire hand, but the wrist still remains intact.

Wrist disarticulation: This happens when both the hand and wrist joint are removed.

Tranradial amputation: These are below elbow amputations that involve partial removal of the forearm below the elbow joint.

Elbow disarticulation: Amputation of the forearm up to the elbow.

Transhumeral amputations: Refers to the removal of the arm above the elbow.

Amputations usually occur in severe car accidents such as those involving a rollover, head-on collision, ejection, and some other types of crashes. Even crush injuries resulting from car accidents can necessitate surgical amputation. It is needless to say that any kind of amputation changes the life of the victim forever.

If you or someone close to you has suffered an amputation as a result of a St. Louis car accident, you should get in touch with an experienced St. Louis car accident lawyer, who can help recover adequate compensation for your injuries and suffering. Call (314) 361-4242 today for a free consultation.