Articles Posted in Physical Therapist Negligence

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During a physical therapy session following her hip surgery, Anita Hanson began to experience increased pain in her leg. The pain did not subside and hospital staff later diagnosed her with a fractured femur.

Hanson and her husband brought a lawsuit against the physical therapy company and the hospital. It was alleged in the lawsuit that the physical therapist was negligent during the physical therapy session, that the hospital was negligent in choosing not to timely diagnose the fractured femur, and that Hanson was injured as a result of the negligence of both the hospital and the physical therapist. The defendants separately moved for summary judgment. The plaintiffs, Anita Hanson and her husband Marvin Hanson, filed an appeal.

On Sept. 8, 2014, Anita Hanson underwent a right total hip arthroplasty. The surgeon, Dr. Michael Vener performed the surgery. After the surgery, Dr. Vener took x-rays, which confirmed a properly placed artificial joint. The x-ray did not reveal any fractured bones.
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A Cook County jury heard evidence in a medical malpractice jury trial related to postoperative physical therapy that was alleged to have caused left knee ligament damage to the patient. The plaintiff in this case was 44-year-old Michele Boucher-Kmiec, who underwent left knee ligament repair surgery at Swedish Covenant Hospital on July 6, 2009. After the surgery, her leg was placed in an immobilizer.

On July 7 and July 8, 2009, the defendant physical therapist Brittany Mynsberge worked with the patient for her physical therapy. The physical therapy order came from Boucher-Kmiec’s surgeon, who did the knee surgery.

In this lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that physical therapist Mynsberge was negligent in performing range of motion exercises on the post-surgical knee when it was contraindicated. It was also alleged that the physical therapist would have known that such a range of motion exercise was not indicated if she had noticed the immobilizer, which extended from the patient’s buttocks to her toes. It further contended that the defendant physical therapist’s improper therapy caused danger to the repaired medial collateral ligament, which later became infected.

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