The Bionic Future Crush Injury Victims

Michael S. Callahan | | Work Injuries

Technology is providing a brighter future for victims of crush and amputation injuries in Houston and across America with new, bionic limb technology.

When a workplace accident results in a debilitating crush injury or amputation injury, the attorneys at The Callahan Law Firm have the experience, skill and resources to succeed in the fight for justice to compensate injured workers for their pain, suffering, impairment and loss of ability to work. What does the future hold for a person suffering the effects of a crush injury or amputation?  Thanks to advancing technology, there may be hope.

Never been so replaceable

Bertolt Meyer pulls off his artificial arm and gives it to author Geoff Brumfiel. Meyer was born with an incomplete arm ending just below the elbow. He grew up with primitive plastic and metal prosthesis. Today he has a silicone prosthetic with a hand that uses motors for each finger. Sensors read nerve signals and move the fingers to open and close.

Writing in The Smithsonian, Brumfiel  envisions a world where technology provides limbs that look and function increasingly like the real thing. “Such bionic marvels will increasingly find their way into our lives and our bodies,” says Brumfiel.

Some bionics engineers are motivated by their own need. Hugh Herr, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology owns patents on prosthetic legs he designed to replace his own, both lost to frostbite in a blizzard as a teenager. The future in this technology is for artificial limbs directly attached to the end of bones and wired into the brain.

Insurance companies need to advance their thinking

For workers who have enjoyed a life of productive work , only to see it tragically taken away as a result of a workplace accident, the promise of again having a functional limb is exciting.

Often, insurers and employers want to only pay for the bare minimum in making employee accident victim whole. The newer, versatile, more function restorative limbs can cost in excess of $20,000, causing insurance companies to question whether they are “medically necessary”. Herr believes insurance companies are being short sighted.

Although the latest bionic prosthetics are more expensive per unit than less-complex devices, he argues, they reduce health care payouts across the lifetime of the patient. “When leg amputees use low-tech prostheses, they develop joint conditions, knee arthritis, hip arthritis, and they’re on continual pain medication,” says Herr. “They don’t walk that much because walking is difficult, and that drives cardiovascular disease and obesity.”

Restoring near normalcy

Nigel is a man who lost the lower half of his right arm in an accident. In this amazing video he demonstrates how his robotic arm and hand allow him to “be human”.

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Don’t let insurance companies short change you

People who suffer a crush injury or an amputation injury an accident have a difficult enough time getting the wrongdoer and their insurance company to accept responsibility for an incident, much less compensate the victim fairly for the catastrophic loss. Shouldn’t a person harmed through no fault of their own be provided what he or she needs to survive and hopefully obtain some semblance of a normal life?

The Callahan Law Firm is dedicated to holding insurance companies and negligent employers accountable to injured workers and their families. We work on a contingency basis, meaning we only get paid if you make a recovery whether by settlement or verdict at trial.

Schedule a Free Case Evaluation Today.