Physical Therapist Caused Re-Injury After Surgery

[LWS]

Hello,
Long story short...my wife cut the flexor tendon in her thumb and it had to be surgically repaired, she was told to go to physical therapy at her follow up visit (about two weeks after her surgery) the therapist pulled her thumb to far back and extended the end straight ( the surgeon specifically said not to do that) and pulled the repaired tendon apart!! Her surgeon is not happy to say the least and I am furious! I feel as if the physical therapist..or the company she works for should pay for the resulting surgeries and extra loss of wages..I will be contacting a lawyer soon.. Once I have the results back from her next visit to the surgeon. My question is do we stand a chance of winning? And who is liable the therapist or the company she works for?

[Dogmatique]

A genuine error does not a malpractice suit make.

Your wife should, once she's had further treatment, collect her records and speak with a medmal attorney to see if the standard of care was breached.

There is nothing to be done while she's still getting treatment other than to have the initial consult. Were you present during the PT, incidentally? Is it documented? Does the informed consent mention the risk of further injury?

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And please tell us where you're located in the US.

[LWS]

I was not present at her physical therapy...I have been to each visit to the surgeons office. On the prescribed pt he did note to not extend the thumb, and to call him with any questions...other than that there is no documentation other than photos of the brace before..and after..only because she would text me pictures to show how bulky the brace was..I am not sure they will serve as any kind of proof to how far they moved her thumb.
I am just upset right now...feeling bad for her situation and now looking at extra surgery and the possibility of her loosing the ability to bend her thumb all together because of the time frame since the pt pulled it back loose.

In in Ohio by the way...and thank you for your response.