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Lose a Finger, Gain a Couple Grand — The Body Pricing Guide You Never Asked For
I work in a manufacturing plant where digits are severed on occasion, so it made me curious
Did you ever wonder what a limb was worth? did in “What is an Ear Worth?”
Honestly, it’s irreplaceable and precious, but if you lost it at work, there is an already established catalog of body parts, which has determined each limb’s value. Each state has compensation tables that assign a literal dollar amount to each appendage.
And you thought your kidney was only worth something on the black market!
My interest was piqued when my housemate became one of the few to lose the tip of her pointer while working at the plant.
She was not alone.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more than 75,000 workers injured their fingers, including fingertips, fingernails, and nail beds, in 2020.
The company offered her a lump sum in exchange for the phalange, which was squeezed and twisted by a machine to the point (no pun intended) where it required amputation.
I googled her proposed settlement and discovered that a body part is worth differing amounts, based on the state…
