Bolt Burdon Kemp’s goal is to provide our clients with exceptional legal advice that will secure the best outcome in their claims. We also ensure that you have access to practical guidance, treatment and support from the very beginning right through to the end of the claim.
If you believe you have suffered from negligent treatment that has resulted in an amputation contact our specialist solicitors who will discuss your claim with you and advise you about a claim for compensation.
Rehabilitation after an amputation
Whether you have lost an arm, leg, fingers, or toes, physical rehabilitation is an important part of the recovery process. It will allow you to recover function and carry out as many of your normal activities as possible.
1. Medical follow-up
Your initial rehabilitation will include medical follow–up with surgical and rehabilitation consultants. You are also likely to require nursing care both in terms of dressing and caring for your existing wounds and to provide education and advice on stump care and wound management going forwards.
2. Physiotherapy
You will often require physiotherapy which focuses on exercises to improve strength, balance and mobility. This is particularly true if you will need to adapt to using a wheel chair or prosthesis. Once your surgical wounds have healed well enough you may be fitted with a prosthetic limb. Using a prosthetic limb requires considerable muscle strength and energy which can be tiring. You may also find that your remaining limb changes in shape and size as you recover so that a number of different fittings for new sockets and liners are required whilst you adapt to using the prosthesis on a regular basis.
3. Emotional and psychological support
Emotional and psychological support is essential to help you adjust to changes that amputation can bring to your life. It is not unusual for amputees to experience psychological symptoms following the loss of a limb or digit, particularly when, as is the case with medical negligence, the amputation may have been avoidable.
You may feel depressed, angry or frustrated as well as anxious about your future. You may also suffer from phantom limb pain. Psychiatric or psychological treatment is needed to address these conditions and to put you in the right frame of mind to maximise your physical abilities.
4. Occupational therapy
If you have suffered a major amputation, it is likely that you will need occupational therapy.
Occupational therapy aims to help you adapt and regain independence in your day to day activities. The therapy will look at providing aids and equipment and where appropriate adaptations to your home and transportation.
Our rehabilitation and support services
Assessment by a qualified professional:
Through our partnerships and arrangements with high quality specialist providers we offer a range of professional and support services including an assessment by a qualified professional who will implement a bespoke package of rehabilitation and support services to meet your current and future needs. This may include:-
- access to further surgery,
- counselling,
- psychological treatment,
- pain management,
- physiotherapy,
- occupational therapy,
- care and assistance,
- case management, and
- other specialist services.
Early payments of compensation
We understand that an amputation can put financial pressure on you and your family. With that in mind, our solicitors will make every effort to obtain early payments of compensation to assist you in relieving this burden and to provide funding to meet your needs.
A client who has suffered an amputation may use funds to purchase more advanced and specialist prosthetics to improve comfort and performance to modify their home to meet their needs alongside those of their family to attend confidence building adventure rehabilitation courses that really push the boundaries of what they believe is possible.
Bolt Burdon Kemp offers comprehensive advice on disability and other benefits to which you may be entitled. If appropriate, we can then arrange for you to receive specialist financial advice to protect those benefits.
Further information
We can direct you towards information on a wide variety of local authority and government initiatives that, depending on your individual circumstances, may provide support or assistance with:
- mobility aids and equipment,
- housing adaptations,
- pavement/kerb modifications,
- workplace reintegration, and
- other practical matters.
