Workers’ Compensation is designed to cover medical expenses and disability payments for injured workers. With especially serious injuries, it provides additional damages.
However, these damages fall short of covering “pain and suffering,” which can only be claimed in a lawsuit. Although you cannot sue your employer for work-related injuries, you may still be able to sue other parties for full compensation.
Call us at (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation with our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists at Cardamone Law.
Damages for Amputation Injury Cases
Workers’ Compensation pays a series of benefits without regard to fault. These are covered whether you caused the accident, or even if someone outside your workplace caused it.
However, you likely also face additional damages you cannot claim without a lawsuit.
Medical Benefits
Workers’ Comp pays full medical benefits to cover the treatment you need for your injuries. With amputations, this includes reasonable costs for prosthetics, but it may not cover more advanced prosthetics you might want to use.
Lost Wages
Lost wages are paid at 2/3 of your pre-injury wages for as long as you cannot work. With amputation injuries, this is usually limited to your “healing period” – a period set by statute for each injury.
If you have other injuries, too, your wage-loss benefits might be extended. After the healing period, you are expected to return to work at some level and can still collect partial disability benefits if you are below your normal wages.
Specific Loss Benefits
Specific loss benefits are additional compensation paid for amputations and total lost function, along with facial scarring and lost vision or hearing.
These benefits pay 2/3 of your pre-injury average weekly wage, subject to caps and floors. They last for a number of weeks set by statute for each injury.
These benefits typically start after your wage-loss benefits end and continue regardless of your ability to work.
Lawsuit Damages
Lawsuits can recover additional damages you cannot get in Workers’ Comp:
- Pain and suffering damages are vital because they cover lost ability, feelings of loss, emotional distress, and many PTSD symptoms you might face from an amputation injury.
- Economic damages like home adaptation costs and replacement household services can be claimed as well, if they were caused by the injury.
- Property damage is also available, such as damaged gear or clothes.
Filing for Workers’ Comp
All employees are allowed to file Workers’ Compensation claims for work-related injuries through this process:
Reporting Injuries
You have to report your amputation injury within 120 days to keep eligibility for a claim, but this report is expected within 21 days. Talk to our amputation lawyers about how to provide notice and whether it is needed if your employer already has actual knowledge of the accident.
Seeking Medical Care
You must get initial medical care as soon as you can after your injury. This might be able to allow reattachment or prevent the need for further amputation.
Awaiting Decision
Your employer’s Workers’ Comp carrier gets 21 days from your initial notice to decide the claim. They can also temporarily grant benefits for up to 90 days while they extend investigations.
Filing a Formal Claim
Once your claim is denied, our amputation lawyers have to file your Claim Petition within 3 years of the initial injury to continue the case. This puts the claim before the Workers’ Comp Office of Adjudication and a Workers’ Comp Judge (WCJ).
Hearings
The WCJ holds hearings to take in evidence and make a decision based on that proof. Your employer can demand that you see a doctor of their choice in an IME (independent medical exam).
Settlement
Because amputation cases are sometimes quite obvious and the benefits are often clear from the outset, they may settle. You can also potentially file a settlement just for the lost wages and specific loss amounts, leaving medical care to be covered as it comes up.
Suing for Workplace Amputation Accidents
Because pain and suffering will be a vital area of damages in an amputation claim, you may want to file a lawsuit to collect these damages. You can typically only sue an outside third party, as the law blocks workers from suing their employers for work-related injuries.
This can involve claims against drivers, equipment manufacturers, and more. To win, we need to prove their fault in court or reach a settlement.
FAQs for Amputations at Work in Upper Darby
Are Workplace Amputations Worth More than Other Work Injuries?
Workers’ Comp pays medical benefits directly to your employer, and you usually get 2/3 of your pre-injury wages (subject to caps and floors). This means that the actual money in your pocket usually depends on the length of your injury, so amputation injuries pay the same as many other serious injuries.
However, permanent amputation also entitles you to specific loss benefits. These are an additional 2/3 of your pre-injury wage (subject to caps and floors) that you do not get without some kind of permanent injury.
How Do You Know if You Have a Case?
If your injury happened within the course of your work duties, and you are an employee, you should have a Workers’ Compensation case. Our lawyers can review the facts and help you determine if these conditions are met.
If you were injured by an outside third party, you may have an additional lawsuit, which we can also assess.
What if You Caused Your Own Amputation Accident?
Many amputation accidents happen because of user error or something the victim did by accident. Workers’ Compensation does not make the injury “your fault,” and still requires your employer to pay your damages even if you hurt yourself by accident.
You are only barred from coverage if you caused your injury
- On purpose
- Through drug/alcohol use or
- Through illegal activity.
When Should You Call a Lawyer After a Workplace Amputation?
Contact a lawyer as soon as you can after an accident. Especially with a serious amputation injury, the insurance carrier might not want to pay such high damages. You need a lawyer on your side from the beginning to track medical bills, doctors’ reports, lost wages, disabilities, evidence, and more.
Lawsuits are often helpful in these cases, or else there is no way to recover pain and suffering damages, so having a lawyer early on can help with investigations and finding proof for that lawsuit.
Call Our Workplace Amputation Lawyers in Upper Darby
For a free case evaluation, call Cardamone Law’s workplace amputation lawyers at (267) 651-7945.
