Physical Therapy Malpractice

Physical Therapy Malpractice Lawyer

Like other medical professionals, physical therapists are held to a standard of care for their profession. If the therapist fails to assess and treat an injury correctly and does not provide the care necessary to ensure injury prevention for the patient, serious injuries may result. When therapists are negligent and patients sustain injuries, there may be grounds to bring a malpractice lawsuit against the medical professional or facility that caused the injury.

There are many ways in which physical therapists can cause harm, including:

• Making a patient do exercises that worsen an injury or lead to a new injury
• Failing to monitor a patient to make sure exercises are done correctly and safely
• Disregarding complaints of pain during a procedure
• Dropping a patient or causing the patient to fall
• Over-extending limbs to the point of creating additional injury
• Causing burns from hot heating pads.

If you or a loved one was harmed due to negligence or faulty treatment from a physical therapist in Pennsylvania, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. However, the rules relating to medical malpractice are complex, and it is essential to have help and guidance from an experienced personal injury lawyer to make sure you receive the compensation you deserve.

We offer a free consultation on personal injury cases to examine the facts of your individual situation and determine the best way to proceed with your case. Contact us today by calling or by using our online contact form.

What Are Common Injuries?

Examples of injuries that may occur or get worse by negligent physical therapy include:

• Strained or torn tendons or ligaments
• Broken bones
• Creation or worsening of wounds
• Concussions or head injuries
• Neck or back injuries
• Rotator cuff injuries
• Infections
• Strokes
• Paralysis
• Heart attacks.

What Pennsylvania Law Says

Pennsylvania law judges medical malpractice claims according to whether there was negligence and whether the actions of the professional or institution met a standard of care based on how similarly trained therapists would have treated the same condition. Physical therapy that significantly violates an understood norm of diagnosis or treatment and causes injury or even death to the patient through negligent acts may violate this standard.

In addition, doctors may also be liable for malpractice if they were negligent in giving orders for physical therapy that violated the standard of care or if the doctor should have known that the therapy involved risks. In some cases, both physical therapists and doctors may be found negligent and responsible for the injuries.

What is Negligence?

To prove negligence in a medical malpractice case against a physical therapist, these elements must be present:

• There was a duty of care between the physical therapist and the patient.
• There was a violation of the “standard of care” – the degree of prudence and caution required of a medical professional and which the patient could have expected if under the care of a reasonably competent physical therapist.
• There was damage to the patient as a direct result.

What Compensation Can I Receive?

If you win a medical malpractice case, you may receive compensation for economic or monetary damages and for non-economic damages as well.

Possible economic damages include:

• Medical expenses, such as costs for rehabilitation, therapy, and corrective surgeries
• Time spent away from work, lost wages and earnings and potential future earnings
• Funeral costs.

Non-economic damages refer to intangible losses, such as emotional or psychological harm stemming from the injury.

Examples include:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress and trauma
• Loss of consortium and companionship
• Loss of enjoyment of life.

In some rare cases, punitive damages may also be awarded by the court to discourage similar situations from happening again.

Contact Us For Help

If you or a loved one has suffered damages from physical therapy malpractice, you may be able to make a claim for damages against the responsible parties and receive compensation for your losses. However, Pennsylvania medical malpractice law is complicated, and it is essential to have experienced attorneys and legal staff on your side.
Based in Williamsport, we serve clients throughout the state of Pennsylvania, offering a free consultation on all personal injury matters. More than that, we offer you experience, knowledge, compassion, and a long history of results.

Contact us today by calling or by using our online contact form.

Attorney Cliff Rieders

Cliff Rieders is a Nationally Board Certified Trial Lawyer practicing personal injury law. A large part of his practice involves multi-district litigation, including cases related to pharmaceuticals, vitamin supplements and medical devices. He is admitted in several state and federal courts, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Rieders is the past regional president of the Federal Bar Association and is a life member of the distinguished American Law Institute, which promulgates proposed rules adopted by many state courts. He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. As a founder of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, he served on the Board for 15 years.

Not only has Rieders held many highly esteemed, leadership positions, he authored legislation related to the Patient Safety Authority and the Mcare Act, which governs medical and hospital liability actions in Pennsylvania. He authored texts upon which both practitioners and judges rely, including Pennsylvania Malpractice Laws and Forms, and Financial Responsibility Law Issues in Pennsylvania, the latter governing auto and truck collisions in Pennsylvania. In addition, he wrote several books on the practice of law in Pennsylvania regarding wrongful death and survivor actions, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice claims and worker rights, among others. Rieders also serves as a resource to practitioners as a regular speaker for Celesq, an arm of the world’s largest legal publisher, Thomson Reuters West Publishing.

As recognition of his wide range of contribution to his profession and of his dedication to protecting the rights of his clients, he received numerous awards, among them the George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award, the Milton D. Rosenberg Award, the B’nai B’rith Justice Award, and awards of recognition from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers. [ Attorney Bio ]