Is Negligent Physical Therapy Medical Malpractice?

Physical therapy is generally prescribed to help patients rehabilitate and strengthen joints and muscles that lost range of motion and/or strength due to an injury or illness. Licensed physical therapists are professional health care providers and as such they are obligated to provide a reasonable “standard of care” to their patients. The standard of care defines appropriate care that a competent physical therapist would provide in a particular treatment scenario. With the help of a medical expert witness, a medical malpractice lawyer looks to prove that a physical therapist violated the standard of care by acting in a way that no reasonable physical therapist would have acted in similar circumstances. Negligent physical therapy may be classified as medical malpractice.

What is not negligent physical therapy?

In some cases, despite the best efforts of the therapist to follow best practices, the patient shows little to no progress or even regresses with treatment. While the patient may be understandably frustrated with these results, an unsatisfactory outcome alone does not qualify as negligent physical therapy or medical negligence. The medical and legal communities understand that there are known risks with any type of physical therapy treatment programs and therefore the bar for malpractice is set high.

Four elements for physical therapy malpractice

1. A duty of care existed as a result of a patient/doctor relationship that existed at the time of the injury.
2. The physical therapist must have acted in a negligent manner by failing to meet the standard of care.
3. The harm to the patient must have been directly caused by the negligent care. In some physical therapy malpractice cases the harm comes in the form of physical conditions that would not have occurred without exposure to the negligent physical therapy.
4. Substantial damages – monetary, physical or mental – must have been suffered as a result of the harm.

In some rare cases the prescribing physician could be held liable for negligent physical therapy instead of the physical therapist for improperly ordering a patient to receive physical therapy that caused harm. For example, a physician may be liable if they improperly order physical therapy because they failed to accurately diagnose the patient’s injury.

What types of damages can be recovered in a negligent physical therapy lawsuit?

Damages vary from case to case but would generally cover both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include medical expenses and lost wages and non-economic damages include mental anguish and pain and suffering. A medical malpractice lawyer will be able to determine a fair settlement for your injuries.

The Seattle personal injury attorneys at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC have years of experience representing families harmed by medical malpractice and other forms of negligence. We seek justice for people who have been harmed by preventable medical errors including birth injuries, hospital-acquired infections and wrongful death in Seattle and across Washington State. There are no fees or expenses to file a personal injury case as we only receive payment if we recover damages on your behalf. Do not delay; personal injury claims come with a Statute of Limitations, which means they must be filed within a certain time frame of the injury.

Call us now at (206) 752-4366 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation with one of our compassionate, experienced attorneys.