Maine News
Jury Awards $643K in Maine Police Officer Malpractice Case
2005-12-27
A jury in Augusta, Maine has awarded a former town of Rumford police officer $643,000 for damages that occurred during a surgery on the man. Eric Richard, 41, was permanently disabled when Dr. Eric Omsberg of Waterville negligently severed a major vein in Richard's leg.
The jury's award included $78,000 for billed medical expenses, $170,000 for future medical expenses, $46,000 in lost wages and $350,000 for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
In addition to accidentally severing the large vein in Richard's leg Dr. Omsberg was found guilty of failing to prescribe a blood thinner required by patients after the surgery.
Jodi Nofsinger, the attorney for the injured man, said that both the accidental cutting and the lack of foresight in not prescribing the blood thinner were both obvious cases of medical malpractice. Nofsinger said that the doctor was negligent in cutting the vein, and that the size of the vein was about the size of a human thumb, not a tiny artery.
Richard was a full-time police officer but has since been reassigned to dispatching duty. The injuries he sustained from the operation have left him unable to perform his normal job functions.
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