Texas Amputation Injury Lawyer

• Texas employers reported more work amputations to OSHA than any other state. They filed 1,938 reports from 2021 through November 2025, compared with 1,078 in Ohio.
• Texas juries may award separate damages for physical impairment and disfigurement. Those are on top of pain, mental anguish and lost earnings.
• Texas does not cap pain and suffering damages in most injury cases. Caps apply mainly to health care claims and government defendants.
• An employer without workers’ comp cannot blame an injured worker’s own carelessness. The worker still must prove the employer was negligent.
• Most injury lawsuits must be filed within two years. Workers’ comp requires notice to the employer within 30 days.

Amputation risks differ across Texas, from Houston machine shops to the Port of Brownsville. Our city pages cover local injuries, trauma care and rehab:

• Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin
• Laredo, McAllen, Harlingen and Brownsville

In Golden Eagle Archery v. Jackson, the Supreme Court of Texas recognized disfigurement and physical impairment as damages that can be awarded separately. Loss of enjoyment of life is considered as part of physical impairment.

Future medical costs, including prosthetics, replacements and therapy, can be recovered when they are reasonably probable. Past medical costs are limited to what was actually paid or incurred under Section 41.0105. Lost earning capacity must be shown after income taxes.

Prosthetics and Insurance

Under Insurance Code Chapter 1371, state-regulated health plans must cover prosthetic arms and legs at least as well as Medicare, including repair and replacement. The Texas Workforce Commission’s vocational rehabilitation program can help pay for prosthetics, therapy, retraining and vehicle changes.

Employers must report a work amputation to OSHA within 24 hours. In 2024, 27% of all severe injury reports nationwide involved an amputation, and manufacturing accounted for more than half. Lockout/tagout and machine guarding are both on OSHA’s list of most-cited standards.

Lifetime Income Benefits

Workers’ comp pays lifetime income benefits for the loss of both hands, both feet, or one hand and one foot, at or above the wrist or ankle. Losing one hand or foot usually leads to impairment income benefits instead, three weeks for each percentage point of impairment.

Employers Without Workers’ Comp

Texas lets private employers opt out of workers’ comp. Under Section 406.033, a worker can sue a nonsubscriber, which cannot argue the worker was careless or assumed the risk. Machine makers and other contractors can be sued whether or not the employer has coverage.

A national study of emergency room data found that doors, table saws and lawn mowers were the products most often behind traumatic amputations, and that fingers were lost in 91% of cases. The CPSC estimates fireworks injured 13,000 people in 2025, with hands and fingers hurt most often.

A design defect claim requires a safer, feasible alternative design under Section 82.005. Most product claims must be brought within 15 years of the sale. See our work injury, product liability, construction accident and motorcycle accident pages.

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