The general definition of the term “amputation” means removing part or all of a limb. The University of Washington Medicine’s Orthopeadics and Sports Medicine Department offers this more robust definition: Amputation is an extraordinarily broad term, covering the entire range of body-part loss. It covers the loss of part of a finger to an entire arm to chest-wall level, and from the loss of a toe all the way to the entire leg or pelvic area…. The term ‘amputation’ is typically used to describe the removal of all or part of a limb, but technically it is more precise to reserve this term for the process of limb removal by dividing through one or more of the bones. The term ‘disarticulation’ is more precise for the process of removing a limb between joint surfaces. Traumatic amputation injuries occur without warning. Sometimes the injury is so severe that you lose your limb at the accident site. All the doctors can do is help shape the limb so that it can be fitted for a prosthesis. Other traumatic amputation injuries occur when the victim’s limb is attached and the victim can be taken to the ER, but the doctors need to remove the limb to save the patient from dying.