Amputation compensation claims
Contact Our Team
Our specialist medical negligence and personal injury solicitors can help if you or a loved one has had an amputation and someone else is to blame.
We understand that making a compensation claim can feel like another struggle to face, but a settlement can transform lives. It helps you to access better ongoing care and equipment to cope with your amputation and can offset losses you suffered as a result, such as loss of earnings.
Whether the amputation was due to mismanaged medical care, a traumatic event such as a car crash, or any other incident where someone else was at fault, our solicitors can advise on whether you have a claim.
Our extensive experience of dealing with clinical negligence and serious injury claims means we’re able to make the process as smooth and stress free as possible and maximize your compensation.
Our aim is to find the best support for you to allow you to live as full and independent a life as possible and to secure the funds to pay for it.
We can help in all kinds of cases, including those involving people who have mental capacity issues that affect their ability to make their own decisions and parents who are claiming on behalf of children.
Can I make an amputation compensation claim?
Any scenario where an amputation results from someone else’s negligence could make a compensation claim valid.
That may include a serious injury, such as:
- A road traffic accident – as the driver, passenger or a pedestrian
- An accident at work, usually involving dangerous machinery or dangerous substance(s)
- An incident involving a mismanaged animal
Medical negligence, such as:
- A mistake during surgery
- Infection from surgery such as gangrene, making the limb vulnerable
- Failures in the management of an infection or meningitis
- Late diagnosis of cancer
Amputation compensation advice
Claiming compensation for an amputation is a specialised area and your choice of solicitor can make a big difference to your future.
Our specialist serious injury solicitors will work with you to understand all the needs you may have now and in the future as a result of your amputation – and what help could be available.
Enable Law’s specialist compensation solicitors can provide:
- in depth guidance on the strength of your compensation claim
- information on how to protect yourself from incurring excessive costs through making a claim, such as via no win no fee arrangements
- assessments by independent medical experts
- access to specialist treatments, equipment and rehabilitative support that may not be available on the NHS
- help to find modern, quality prosthetics
- help with finding information and professionals to carry out house adaptations
- access to interim compensation payments whilst your case is settled (where fault is accepted)
- help to formulate a care plan
- help with getting back to hobbies
- help to manage and invest large financial awards.
Do please get in touch for a free, initial, informal, no obligation discussion.
£350,000 compensation for leg amputation after failures in diabetes care
Enable Law secured £350,000 compensation for Richard,* who had to have his leg amputated following failures by his healthcare team when he got a foot wound.
As a diabetic, Richard, aged 60, should have been given an urgent referral to a multidisciplinary foot clinic when he went to his GP with the wound.
Instead he was treated by a district nurse over the course of six weeks, but the wound got worse and became infected. The infection spread to the bone, leaving Richard in terrible pain and doctors to make the decision to amputate his leg below the knee.
Compensation was secured from the healthcare trust in charge of the district nurses who treated Richard.
His damages allowed him to access a better quality prosthetic leg to allow him to walk as well as possible.
It also paid for him to have help at home, a good quality wheelchair and other equipment to make life easier.
* Name changed
Diabetes is often linked to avoidable amputations.
How much compensation will I receive for an amputation?
Compensation for amputations can run into hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds.
The amount of money you receive for an amputation depends on a number of factors including the:
- type of amputation
- long term impact of the amputation on your life
- severity of any ongoing pain
- cost of equipment or prosthetics you may need as a result
- value of any loss of earnings
Compensation awards are made up of two parts: general damages and special damages.
Special damages
Special damages are very individual and intended to cover the potential losses and costs your amputation may lead to in your specific case.
Costs may be for things like house adaptations, mobility vehicles and prosthetics, which differ in each case. While loss of earnings will depend on the job you have and impact the amputation may have on your ability to do it or other work in the future.
Solicitors with extensive experience of medical negligence and personal injury cases, such as the Enable Law team, are best placed to build fully rounded claims for special damages that take into account all your current and future needs. They are likely to think of things that may not occur to someone with little experience of amputation and serious injury, and you may not know enough about your injury to correctly judge everything you will need in the future.
General damages
General damages, which are intended to compensate for pain and suffering, are paid in addition to special damages. Special damages may far exceed the general damages total.
Guideline amounts are set out to indicate how much should be paid in general damages depending on the type of amputation. The guidelines are usually followed quite closely.
Factors that impact on the amount of general damages awarded in amputation cases include, how much of a limb has been amputated and how that affects the fit of prosthetics, whether joints are affected, which adds to the disability, the existence and severity of phantom pains and, in the case of arms, whether the dominant arm was affected.
The table below indicates guideline general damages amounts according to Judicial College for some types of amputation.
| Amputation type | Guideline general damage amounts*
*General damages only form part of an overall compensation claim |
| Arm amputated at the shoulder | Not less than £128,710 |
| An amputation below the elbow | £90,250 to £102,890 |
| Amputation of a hand | £90,250 to £102,890 |
| Amputation of Index Finger | £11,420 to £17,590 |
| Amputation of a thumb | £33,330 to £51,460 |
| Amputation of leg above the knee | £98,380 to £129,010 |
| Amputation of a leg below the knee | £91,950 to £124,800 |
| Amputation of a foot | £78,800 to £102,890 |
| Amputation of the Big Toe
|
Around £29,380 |
£4 million compensation for woman whose lower leg was amputated following a road crash
A car passenger, who had to have part of one leg amputated and suffered damage to her other leg in a crash, was awarded more than £4 million in compensation.
The award was elevated in part to ensure the woman, Ms Swift, could have access to a variety of prosthetics, including those that allowed her to engage in sports.
Ms Swift’s case underlines the importance and life changing potential of having the right support to maximise special damages to an extent that they cover the costs of equipment that can be transformative.
Who we work with
The Limbless Association is the largest civilian limb loss charity in the UK. Since it was established in 1983, it has worked with amputees and sector professionals to offer information, advice and support for amputees, their family and friends and professionals.
We’re proud to support its mission through the provision of high-quality legal advice to volunteers and service users who have lost limbs due to medical negligence or a negligently-caused serious injury.
