I think that was the problem. They didn't prescribe any physical therapy, or they didn't do it in a timely manner. And how could the rib puncture the lung if it wasn't displaced? He broke the rib, and they sent him home. It punctured his lung while he was home. His wife came in and found him spitting up blood. That doesn't seem right to me.
By the way, this man is a genuine war hero. He was shot down in Vietnam, ended up gutshot and permanently disabled. The ambulance comes in the middle of the night on a regular basis for him, what he has given for our country makes tears come to my eyes.
Something is missing here. A stable but fractured rib doesn't puncture the lung hours or days after the fracture. Something has to make that broken rib rip into his lung, after which he should have become short of breath fairly quickly. Maybe there was a second tramatic event to the broken rib? Otherwise, it doesn't make sense to me.