In the first days after limb loss, your priority is medical care—but you can also protect your ability to seek compensation.
Do these things early:
- Request copies of key reports: incident reports, police reports (if applicable), and any documentation from emergency services.
- Write down the incident timeline while it’s fresh—what happened, where you were, who was there, and what you were told about the cause.
- Keep everything related to care and access: ER discharge papers, surgery reports, rehab plans, prosthetic prescriptions, and follow-up schedules.
- Save receipts and travel costs tied to treatment and mobility needs.
- Be cautious with statements to insurance representatives. In California, what you say can be treated as admissions or used to dispute causation.
If you’re contacted quickly after the injury, it’s often not a sign the case is easy—it may be a sign the insurer wants to lock in information before the full medical picture is known.


