The amount of force produced when motor vehicles collide is extreme. Crashes involving particularly high speeds or vehicles of significantly different sizes can be especially dangerous. Vehicle manufacturers design vehicles to bend or crumple in a particular way during especially violent collisions. The goal is to prevent loss of life.
Unfortunately, the way that vehicles crumple can potentially cause crush injuries. Side-impact collisions may also result in crush injuries for the driver or other occupants of the vehicle. Crush injuries are some of the most severe injuries possible in a collision scenario, in part because they may lead to surgical amputation.
Why might doctors have to perform a medical amputation when people sustain crush injuries in a crash?
Crush injuries cause extensive damage
In a scenario involving blunt-force trauma, there may be a single point of impact where an individual suffers injury. They might break a bone or develop an internal injury. In a crush injury scenario, the damage to the affected body part can be extreme.
The bone may break into multiple pieces, making it impossible for medical professionals to set the bone. Even if they try to use implanted medical devices to support the bone’s recovery, healing may not be possible.
Crush injuries can also cause damage to the musculature and vascular tissue. Additionally, they can cause nerve damage which can cause debilitating pain. Attempts to treat crush injuries could require multiple successive surgeries with hospitalization and rehabilitation care in between each procedure. In many cases, the best outcome available comes from surgical amputation.
The decision to remove the affected body part offers the patient the fastest and most complete recovery possible. Of course, amputation comes with a host of consequences. There are the immediate and long-term medical costs to consider. People often develop mental health challenges as a result of limb loss.
They may have to change careers or may experience major setbacks in their professional development. Given the long-term consequences of amputation, a basic insurance claim after a car crash causes crush injuries may not be sufficient. People may need to file a personal injury lawsuit to cover their medical expenses and lost wages.
Seeking appropriate compensation for catastrophic injuries like limb loss can be difficult. With the right help, people improve their chances of recouping their economic losses and holding the party at fault for the crash accountable for the harm they caused.