By BETTY JESPERSEN
Staff Writer Friday, March 02, 2007

The three-day Superior Court civil trial ended late Wednesday afternoon. In a 6-3 vote, jurors voted to award 76-year-old Rodney Sawtelle $360,000, as well as $40,000 to his wife, Frances.

The Sawtelles' lawyer, Scott Lynch of Lewiston, said Rodney Sawtelle was injured when a nurse at the hospital punctured a nerve in his arm with a needle. Sawtelle, who operates a heavy-equipment garage in Wilton, can't effectively feed himself, manage paperwork at his business or perform other duties related to his work, Lynch said.

"We are very disappointed that the jury did not accept the findings of the mandatory pre-litigation screening panel that found unanimously that our doctors and nurses did not cause injury to Mr. Sawtelle," Franklin Memorial Hospital President Richard Batt said Thursday.

The screening panel, a group of three medical experts, is part of a process set up by state law when there is alleged malpractice.

"Our hospital has deep respect for the jury process but we are going to review this case to see if there are grounds for an appeal," Batt said. "We take the issue of quality care very seriously."

He said Sawtelle was a patient in January and February of 2002.

"When he was at FMH we had no reports from Mr. Sawtelle or any nurses or his doctors that there was any problem with the care he received," Batt said.

"More than four months later, he called me and alleged he had a pain in his arm that he claimed came from his care at our hospital," Batt said.

A thorough review was made of all the records and the nurses and doctors were interviewed, he said.

"We found no indication there had been a problem or that it happened here," he said.