The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me.

– Terry Fox, Letter to the Canadian Cancer Society (1979)

A traumatic amputation is the removal or loss of a limb or extremity, such as:

• below-knee amputation, where the lower leg, foot and toes are removed;
• above-knee amputation, where part of the thigh, knee, shin, foot and toes are removed;
• toe amputation;
• foot amputation;
• finger amputation;
• hand amputation; and
• arm amputation.

Traumatic injury accounts for approximately 45% of all amputations. Causes of traumatic amputation vary, but typically arise following motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, crush injuries, or severe burns. In addition to physical pain, some individuals with amputated limbs suffer psychological trauma and stump or phantom pain.

If you have been injured or if a loved one has suffered an amputation as a result of an accident, it is crucial to contact Toronto amputation personal injury lawyer promptly to preserve evidence and best protect against limitation periods and notice periods that can bar your rights to compensation.

Choose an amputation lawyer after conducting careful research and consideration of the demonstrable skills and experience of the lawyer. Personal injury claims involving amputations require skilled and experienced personal injury lawyers. Amputation of limbs often follow serious and catastrophic injuries, and may require multiple surgeries and fittings for prosthetics. Depending on the type of limb that has been amputated, accident victims may require extensive medical treatment and either miss significant time from work or be disabled from work completely.

To maximize compensation, accident victims with amputations should choose an amputation lawyer that has devoted their practice exclusively to personal injury law and has successfully won cases like theirs at trial.

There are many unfortunate ways in which amputation victims across Ontario may suffer from loss of limb, including car accidents, ATV and snowmobile accidents, motorcycle accidents, workplace accidents, machinery accidents, construction accidents, electrical accidents, defective products, or through medical error.

Establishing liability against the person or entity responsible for the accident that results in amputation is crucial. Depending on how the accident occurred, an amputation personal injury lawyer may need to investigate a construction site, job site, applicable safety precautions, design schematics, user manuals, existing guardrails, machinery and parts, or equipment to assess whether sufficient and reasonable care was taken. In cases of motor vehicle accidents, ATV and snowmobile accidents, and motorcycle accidents, an amputation lawyer need to gather evidence to establish the other motorist, property owner, manufacturer, or municipality was negligent and therefore liable for the loss of limbs.

Boland Romaine LLP has helped many individuals in Toronto and across Ontario that have suffered critical injuries resulting in amputation of limbs and their families. We have experience gathering evidence to prove fault against other motorists, property owners, manufactures, and municipalities and obtaining the compensation our clients deserve.

People suffering injuries involving amputation may be entitled to compensation for personal injury. If an amputation of a limb is the result of a motor vehicle accident or motorcycle accident caused by another at-fault driver in Toronto or in Ontario, you can seek compensation from the other motorist by commencing a civil tort lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. An amputee may also claim accident benefits if involved in a motor vehicle accident, motorcycle accident, and, in some circumstances, an ATV or snowmobile accident.

If an amputation of a limb is caused by a slip and fall, machinery accident, electrical accident, construction accident, or work accident, you can sue the property owner, negligent manufacturer, or those responsible for your injuries in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

In either case, depending on the severity of your injuries and amputations, you can be compensated for your pain and suffering, past and future loss of income, and past and future costs of treatment or medication. However, in order to succeed in your lawsuit, you must prove that the other motorist, property owner, manufacturer, or municipality involved in the accident was negligent and therefore liable for your injuries and amputation.

We invite you to contact our office for a free consultation to discuss your amputation accident claim.

Your amputation claim is worth fighting for. A personal injury lawsuit attempts to restore you to the financial position you would have been in had the accident not happened. For those with significant losses of income or new lifelong expenses, a personal injury lawsuit is your only means to protect your future and replace what you have lost.

Accident victims that have suffered injuries involving amputations to limbs often face challenges to their recovery and return to pre-accident life. Recovery following an amputation of a limb requires a multidisciplinary approach. We regularly work with a dedicated team of occupational therapists, vocational experts, rehabilitation support workers, and physiotherapists that oversee recovery and make the appropriate recommendations for assistive devices and prosthetics.

Evaluating your amputation claim is based on a multitude of factors, including your injuries, age, level of recovery, level of functionality, pre-accident employment, pre-accident lifestyle, and the evidence both for and against your claim.

We invite you to contact our office for a free consultation to discuss your amputation injury claim.

Yes, if the amputation of limbs is the direct result of a motor vehicle accident, motorcycle accident, or, in some instances, an ATV and snowmobile accidents.

Regardless of who is at-fault for the motor vehicle accident, people who suffer injuries requiring amputation of limbs may seek compensation from their own insurance company by filing a claim for accident benefits. Accident benefits claims provide funding for medical treatment, loss of income, and attendant care. Under Ontario law, certain types of amputations render a claimant “catastrophically impaired” and therefore eligible to claim the highest limits of accident benefits policy limits available. Regardless, your insurance company actively monitors the file and may deny you the treatment or disability benefits you are entitled to. A more detailed outline of your rights to accident benefits is set out here.

Being hurt while at work may have significant impact on your rights to sue for amputation injuries. You must speak with your employer immediately about any workplace accidents, as you and your employer may be covered under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) insurance scheme. If your employer is covered under WSIB, you cannot commence a civil tort action against your employer.

However, if another entity was responsible for your accident and the resulting amputation of limbs and that entity is not covered under WSIB, you may opt out of receiving WSIB and elect to sue the at-fault entity. For example, this means that you may have the right to sue the property owner or equipment manufacturer if you suffer an accident that results in limb amputation, in exchange for not proceeding with a WSIB claim.

As a workplace injury situation is a very fact specific, we encourage you to contact Boland Romaine LLP to schedule a free consultation to better learn of your rights to compensation.

The cost of a prosthetic will depend on the limb being replaced and the capability of the prosthetic. Passive prosthetics range from $2,000 to $10,000, whereas body-powered and myoelectric prosthetics range from $10,000 to $100,000. The Ontario Assistive Devices Program may cover up to 75% of the cost of limb prosthetics for Ontario residents with valid Ontario health cards, so long as the claimant does not also qualify for or receive fundings for prosthetics from WSIB.

Advances in prosthetics are closing in on life-like limbs. Traditional prosthetic arms, for example, only had three movements. The state-of-the-art prosthetic arms, in beta testing, are now up to 22 movements, can lift up to 60 lbs, and have fingertip nodes that detect pressure, vibration and temperature. State of the art prosthetic legs have motorized springs, which provide a powered ankle push-off, as organic ankles do. With the advent of 3D printing, industrial designers are able to provide form to prosthetic, modeled off of the opposite limb, even augmenting the prosthetic stylistically to help restore a person’s sense of self and individuality.

Whether you need a prosthetic will depend on the location of the amputation in relation to the appendage. Arms, elbows, fingers, knees, legs, or toes may need to be amputated after limbs are crushed, burned, or electrocuted; however, not all of such amputations require prosthetics. In some cases, multiple replacement prosthetics will be required throughout the lifetime of the amputee. You should always follow the advice of your doctors, surgeons, and rehabilitation workers with respect to the use of prosthetics.

Residual limb pain or stump pain refers to the pain that an amputee feels at the site of the amputation. This may be felt as a pressing, throbbing, burning, stabbing, or squeezing sensation. Approximately 50% of amputees that experience stump pain improve without treatment. Those amputees requiring treatment often receive medications, physical therapy, or in severe cases, nerve blocks or neuromodulation.

Phantom pain refers to when an amputee experiences the sensation of feeling pain in the body part that has been removed and no longer exists. Studies indicate that up to 85% of amputees experience phantom limb pain. While the frequency and intensity of pain attacks typically decreases over time, approximately 5-10% of amputees experience severe chronic phantom limb pain. Phantom pain is more common in cases of upper limb amputations and in women. Different treatments for phantom pain include painkillers, antidepressants, nerve stimulation, and mirror therapy.