Chicago Personal
Injury Attorney Blog

INJURED AT PHYSICAL THERAPY 

Illinois personal injury lawyers specialize in Worker’s Comp cases and can answer virtually any legal question you may have. The following is an answer to an interesting question from one of our readers:

“While in physical therapy for a work-related back injury, a weight machine broke causing new injuries to my neck and shoulder. Are my new medical bills covered by workers’ comp?”

Chicago Personal Injury Attorney: “It’s not unusual for someone to be injured during physical therapy while recuperating from a work injury. What’s important is that the physical therapist documents the fact that there was an accident or injury during the physical therapy. Now, in the facts that you described, a machine broke, so it would be very hard to deny that something happened. As long as there is a direct causal chain, linking your current condition of ill-being with the original work injury, there should be no problem getting those injuries covered.

“In addition, [based] on these facts, it’s quite possible that you might have an entirely separate lawsuit against either the manufacturer of the machine for creating an unreasonably dangerous or defective product, or perhaps against the people who maintained or repaired that machine, if they did it negligently. Now that would be an entirely separate lawsuit which would entitle you to a trial by jury, and full compensation for things like pain and suffering, mental anguish, full wage replacement – things you don’t necessarily receive in a worker’s compensation case.”

If you have questions about a Workers Compensation case in Illinois, personal injury lawyers can assist you. For more questions answered by a Chicago personal injury attorney, visit our “Ask an Attorney” audio feature.

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