If you’ve lost a leg due to somebody else’s negligence, a successful leg amputation compensation claim can help with the inevitable financial impact that such an injury will cause. For example, compensation could be sought to cover the cost of a better prosthetic limb than the NHS would provide. Similarly, you could claim for the cost of changes to your home that makes it easier to cope with your disability.

Whether you’ve suffered a leg amputation due to a road traffic accident, a workplace accident, medical negligence, or in any other scenario where somebody else was at fault, we could help you take action.

We’ll start by reviewing your claim and provide free legal advice about your options. If your claim seems viable, one of our personal injury solicitors could start your claim right away and will do so on a No Win No Fee basis. As a result, you won’t need to pay for your solicitor’s work unless you receive a compensation settlement.

To begin your compensation claim asap, simply call our advisors for free on 0800 6524 881. If you’d like to learn more about leg amputation claims first, please read on.

Am I Eligible To Make A Leg Amputation Claim?

It’s important to understand that our solicitors can’t take on every leg amputation claim that is presented to them. As they risk not being paid due to their No Win No Fee service, they need to check that there is a reasonable chance of success before continuing. To do this, they’ll assess whether:

• The party you’re claiming against owed you a duty of care; which
• They breached because they were negligent and caused an accident to happen; and
• You suffered a traumatic leg amputation during the accident or it was surgically removed because of the accident.

Your solicitor will check whether a legal duty of care existed at the time of the accident. This can often be established using legislation like the Road Traffic Act 1988 where you lost a leg due to a road accident, or the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 if your leg was amputated as a result of an accident at work. You shouldn’t worry about this too much as your solicitor will use their legal experience to ensure the correct laws are referenced in your claim.

Common Accidents Resulting In Compensation For Loss Of Legs

In this section, we’ve provided a few common accidents/incidents that can result in a loss of a leg/s and compensation being paid. They include:

• Road traffic accidents. A leg amputation might be required if a leg is crushed in the footwell of a car. Similarly, they may be required for cyclists or motorbike riders whose leg is trapped during an RTA.
• Accidents at work. If your leg was amputated because it was crushed by faulty machinery in a factory, you could have grounds to claim. Similarly, claims might be possible if your injury was caused by falling objects, a lack of protective equipment, or a fall from a ladder.
• Medical negligence. Some leg amputations are not caused by “accidents”. Instead, they can be necessary due to diabetes. Therefore, if a medical professional misdiagnosed your condition and you required a leg amputation as a result, a claim might be possible.

Please call 0800 6524 881 if you’d like to discuss your options further.

How Much Compensation Do You Get For Leg Amputation?

Leg amputation compensation will usually be calculated by splitting the claim into two parts. These are:

• General damages. This covers your pain, suffering and any loss of amenity. Importantly, as well as claiming for your physical pain, you could also claim for the psychological suffering caused by limb amputation.
• Special damages. This is where costs, expenses and losses can be claimed. Following a leg amputation, you might have to pay for changes to your home or vehicle. Additionally, you could benefit from a better prosthetic limb than you’ll be given by the NHS. Therefore, these costs could be claimed back. On top of that, you could claim for any loss of income including future lost earnings too.

Find out more on the difference between these damages here.

Although there isn’t a specific amount of compensation for leg amputations, we’ve listed some settlement amounts below advised by the Judicial College. Although they aren’t set in stone, they will give you some indication of what compensation might be awarded for leg amputations.

Leg Amputation Settlement Amounts

• Loss of both legs – £240,790 to £282,010.
• Both legs amputated below the knee – £201,490 to £270,100
• One leg was amputated above the knee – £104,830 to £137,470.
• One leg was amputated below the knee – £97,980 to £132,990

Once your solicitor has knowledge of all that’s happened and the medical report for your leg amputation, they should then be in a position to inform you of what compensation settlement they believe you should claim for.

Evidence To Support A Leg Amputation Claim

To try and ensure you a) win your leg amputation claim and b) are compensated correctly, it is important to provide evidence. This will help to prove what happened, who caused the accident and the extent of your injuries. Obviously, with such serious injuries, it might be difficult to collect evidence at the scene of the accident yourself. However, the types of evidence that would help your claim, and which our solicitors could help obtain include:

• Emergency services reports. An ambulance, the police, or fire service are likely to have been called to the accident scene. Their reports following an investigation could be used as evidence to support your leg amputation claim.
• Witness statements. If anybody else witnessed your accident, they could be asked for a statement by your personal injury solicitor later on.
• CCTV footage. Recordings from security cameras, dash-cams or helmet cameras can all help prove what happened. You should try to obtain footage as soon as possible.
• Medical notes. Your medical records can be a key piece of evidence following a leg amputation. They will explain the extent of your injuries, the treatment required, and your prognosis for the future.
• Accident reports. If you were injured on business premises or in a public place, it will have been recorded. You can ask for a copy of the accident report which will help to confirm the location, date and time of the incident.
• Photographic evidence. If you didn’t have anybody with you at the time of the accident who took photographs, returning to the scene, later on, might still help. Any photographs you provide could be used in conjunction with other reports (police, fire service etc) to demonstrate what happened.

If your case is taken on, your solicitor will help to obtain any evidence that’s still needed. Before that, you could ask our advisors to review the evidence you’ve already gathered to see if you could make a leg amputation compensation claim.

Time Limits For Claiming Leg Amputation Compensation

All personal injury claims for leg amputation have a 3-year time limit in the UK. This will usually start from the date of the amputation, or from when the incident that ultimately led to the amputation, occurred (date of knowledge).

Our advice is to start your claim as quickly as you can. That is because there is a lot for your solicitor to do before your claim is filed. Additionally, you’ll find it easier to recall how the accident happened the sooner you talk about it.

Something else to bear in mind is that once your claim has been filed, your solicitor could request an interim payment so that private medical care can be arranged if necessary. This could mean you’ll recover sooner and can start moving forward with the rest of your life before any compensation is paid.

If your child has been injured, the 3-year time limit does not apply. In this case, a responsible adult could claim for them before their 18^th birthday. If that doesn’t happen, once they become an adult, they must claim before they turn 21 years old.

Why Use Our Solicitors To Make A Leg Amputation Compensation Claim?

It’s important to realise that if you cannot prove exactly why the defendant in your case caused your accident and, subsequently, your leg amputation, you may not be compensated properly (if at all). We believe strongly that you have a better chance of receiving the correct level of compensation with the support of one of our personal injury solicitors.

If your case is accepted, your solicitor will do all they can to make the claims process as stress-free as possible for you. They’ll keep you up to date, and they’ll handle all discussions and negotiations on your behalf. In all cases, they’ll fight hard to try and achieve the maximum amount of compensation possible for your suffering.

With our No Win No Fee agreement in place, you won’t have to concern yourself with paying any fees associated with the claim while it is in progress. You will only be required to pay a success fee once compensation has been secured and paid. The success fee is calculated as a set percentage of the compensation awarded and is simply deducted from it directly. You won’t pay a penny if your leg amputation claim is unsuccessful.

Starting The Leg Amputation Compensation Claims Process

If you have found this guide useful and would now like to discuss starting the process of making a leg amputation claim, please call today on 0800 6524 881.

Your case will be reviewed and we could appoint a solicitor to begin working on your leg amputation compensation claim right away.