Downstate hospital hit with $2.3 mil judgment

CHARLESTON -- A jury has ordered the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Charleston to pay a patient $2.3 million in damages.

Clinton Dean Lovell of Tuscola went into the hospital for prostate surgery in August 2003. He contended that after his procedure a nurse went against doctors' orders by administering him an enema. Lovell's lawyers alleged the enema resulted in him needing multiple surgeries and an artificial sphincter.

Attorneys for Sarah Bush countered that the prostate surgery had touched off a series of problems, requiring additional operations.

The trial took nine days. The jury reached its verdict Thursday after three hours of deliberation.