Amputations or traumatic limb losses are some of the most life-altering injuries someone can suffer on the job. Some people will suffer a machinery failure or car crash while working that instantly severs a body part. Other times, the body gets hurt so badly doctors have to surgically amputate.
While trauma care, rehabilitative services and even prosthetics have improved significantly in recent years, your earning potential and daily quality of life may decline at least for the first years after your injury. Anyone severely hurt on the job can potentially request workers’ compensation benefits. Those benefits will pay for medical care and will also provide disability pay.
Pennsylvania offers specific compensation for those who experience an amputation on the job or as the result of an injury suffered while working.
Compensation depends on your wages and the body part affected
All lost limb claims make a worker eligible to claim up to two-thirds of their average weekly wage for a specific number of weeks. Upper-body injuries have overall higher benefits than lower-body injuries.
Someone who loses a hand can receive 335 weeks of benefits, while the loss of a forearm means 370 weeks and an arm will mean 410 weeks. Losing a foot can result in 250 weeks of benefits, while a lower leg loss extends those benefits for 350 weeks. The total loss of a leg will mean 410 weeks of benefits. Losing an eye can mean 275 weeks of disability pay.
Properly navigating a claim related to a life-altering work injury like an amputation can be difficult. Getting legal help with your workers’ compensation claim to make it easier for you to keep your focus on your physical recovery.