Amputation Claims
For you, or for someone you love
Losing a limb changes everything at once, and the legal side is rarely the first thing on anyone’s mind. But a claim can bring money and practical help long before it finishes, and that is worth knowing early. There is no pressure here and no obligation.
Regulated solicitors
Years' experience
No Win No Fee
You may not have to wait for the claim to finish
Serious claims can take a long time, and that frightens people who need a prosthetic, a wheelchair ramp or an adapted car now. In many amputation cases the money and the practical support can start long before the case ends.
Interim payments
Where the other side has accepted responsibility, or it is clear they will have to, a court can order part of the compensation to be paid early. Insurers also agree these voluntarily in a good number of cases.
That money is used for the things that cannot wait: a better prosthetic than the one you were given, adaptations at home, an adapted vehicle, or simply replacing lost income while the family works out what happens next.
Rehabilitation, funded early
In serious injury cases there is an established practice of the injured person’s solicitors and the insurer working together on rehabilitation early, rather than arguing about everything first.
That can mean an assessment of what you need now, a case manager to organise it, physiotherapy, prosthetic advice and psychological support, arranged while the claim itself continues in the background.
None of this is automatic, and we will not pretend otherwise. Interim payments depend on responsibility being accepted or clearly established, and on there being a genuine need. Early rehabilitation depends on the other side engaging with it. What we can tell you is whether either looks realistic in your case, usually within the first conversation.
It is the main reason not to leave this for a year. Not because a deadline is about to pass, but because the help is more useful now than later.
Can you make an amputation claim?
You may be able to claim if the amputation followed an accident or treatment that was somebody else’s fault, at least in part. That covers a road traffic accident, an accident at work involving machinery or a fall, an accident in a public place, a defective product, or medical treatment that fell below the standard it should have met.
It also covers amputations that happened later rather than at the scene. A crush injury that could not be saved, an infection that was not managed, or a vascular problem that was missed can all lead to surgery weeks or months afterwards, and a claim looks at the original failure rather than the date of the operation.
Families can claim on behalf of someone who cannot manage a claim themselves, and parents can claim for a child. If you are not sure where you stand, ask. We will give you a straight answer.
Common causes of amputation claims
Traumatic amputation at the scene is only one route. A good many limbs are lost in hospital, days or weeks after the accident that damaged them.
Accidents at work
Unguarded machinery, presses and conveyors, forklifts, and crush injuries in factories, warehouses and on construction sites.
Road traffic accidents
Motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians are most exposed, and a serious leg injury is one of the commonest outcomes of these collisions.
Medical negligence
A missed infection, an untreated vascular problem, delayed diagnosis of compartment syndrome, or surgical failures that cost a limb that might have been saved.
Untreated sepsis
Sepsis can lead to the loss of fingers, toes or whole limbs. Where the warning signs were missed or acted on too slowly, that may found a claim.
Defective products
Power tools, machinery and equipment that failed or were sold without adequate guarding or warnings.
Accidents in public places
Serious injuries on premises, at events or on land where whoever was responsible did not keep people reasonably safe.
How much compensation for a broken collarbone?
No honest figure can be given at the outset for amputation compensation. What we can do is explain how loss of limb compensation is actually built up, because that is the part people are rarely told and it matters more than a number.
The injury itself
Compensation for the amputation and its effect on your life. The courts work from the Judicial College Guidelines, which set bracket ranges according to which limb was lost and how much of it, and how you have been affected.
Those brackets are guidance for valuing this part of a claim. They are not a promise, and they are not the whole claim.
Everything the amputation costs
This is usually the larger part, and it is calculated for the whole of your life rather than just the next few years:
- Prosthetic limbs, and replacing and maintaining them for life
- Care and support, whether professional or provided by family
- Lost earnings, and the career you can no longer follow
- Adapting your home, or moving to somewhere suitable
- An adapted vehicle and the cost of getting about
- Physiotherapy, psychological support and ongoing treatment
This is worth understanding, because getting it wrong is expensive. People sometimes find a bracket figure online for the loss of an arm or a leg and take it to be the value of their claim. In an amputation case the future costs, the prosthetics, the care and the lost career, are frequently larger than the figure for the injury itself. Anyone who settles on the strength of a bracket alone risks accepting far less than the claim is actually worth.
Properly built claims of this kind take expert evidence: a prosthetist on what limbs you will need over a lifetime, a care expert, an occupational therapist, and often an accommodation expert. That work takes time, and it is the reason these claims are not settled quickly.
What a claim is built from
You are not expected to gather any of this yourself, and nobody should be asking a family to do paperwork in the first weeks. This is what the work involves once you are ready.
If you are reading this for someone else. Families often make the first call while the injured person is still in hospital. That is fine, and it is often the right time. We can talk to you without needing anything signed by them yet.
No Win No Fee amputation claims
A No Win No Fee agreement, properly called a Conditional Fee Agreement, means there is nothing to pay upfront. If the claim does not succeed, you do not pay us for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If it succeeds, a success fee agreed with you in advance is deducted from your compensation, and insurance is usually put in place to cover the other side’s costs. The percentage is set out in writing before you sign anything.
On a claim of this size the fee arrangement deserves a proper conversation rather than a headline percentage. Ask us to go through it slowly, including disbursements and insurance, and ask the same of any other firm you speak to.
Amputation claims
your questions answered
The questions we are asked most, answered plainly.
Can I claim on behalf of someone else?
Yes. A parent can claim for a child, and where an adult cannot manage a claim themselves a family member can act as their litigation friend. Many families make the first call while the injured person is still in hospital, and that is often sensible, because it is when responsibility is easiest to establish and when early help is most useful. You do not need anything signed by them to have a first conversation with us.
Can I get money before the claim finishes?
Often, yes, though it is not automatic. Where responsibility has been accepted or is clearly established, part of the compensation can be paid early as an interim payment, either by agreement or by order of the court. It is commonly used for prosthetics, home adaptations, an adapted vehicle or replacing lost income. Whether it is realistic in your case depends on the evidence about fault and on showing a genuine need, and we can usually give you a view on that early on.
Who actually pays the compensation?
An insurer, in almost every case, rather than an individual. In a road traffic accident it is the other driver’s motor insurer. At work it is the employer’s liability insurer, which every employer is required by law to have. In a public place it is the occupier’s public liability insurer. In a medical negligence case against the NHS it is handled by NHS Resolution. This is why people should not feel they are taking money from a colleague or a neighbour personally.
Can I claim if the amputation happened weeks after the accident?
Yes, and this is more common than people expect. Surgeons work hard to save limbs, so an amputation often comes later, after attempts at reconstruction, an infection that could not be controlled, or a vascular problem. The claim looks at the failure that caused the damage in the first place. There may also be a separate question about whether the medical care afterwards was adequate, and those two things can sit in the same claim or in different ones.
How long does an amputation claim take?
Longer than a straightforward injury claim, and the reason is worth understanding. A claim of this kind should not be settled until it is clear how you are managing with a prosthetic, what help you need long term, and what work you can return to. Rushing that risks under-settling a claim you only get to bring once. This is exactly why interim payments matter: they let the practical help start while the long work of valuing the claim properly continues.
How long do I have to make a claim?
Usually three years from the accident, or from when you first knew that negligence had caused the harm, which matters in medical cases. For a child the three years runs from their 18th birthday, and where someone lacks the mental capacity to conduct a claim there may be no time limit at all. Even so, earlier is better here, mainly because early contact is what makes interim payments and rehabilitation possible.
Talk to someone, whenever you are ready
You do not need dates, paperwork or medical records to have a first conversation. Tell us what happened as best you can, and we will tell you whether there is a claim, and whether early help looks possible. If we do not think a claim is right, we will say so.
- Free, confidential and without obligation
- No Win No Fee available
- SRA-regulated solicitors
Check if you can make a claim
Takes less than 60 seconds
Other claims we handle
One conversation, no pressure
Most people who ring us about an amputation are not ready to think about a legal case, and that is completely understandable. You can ask what your options are without starting anything. The call is free and commits you to nothing at all.
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