Maine Woman Awarded $1.9M in Malpractice Suit

A Maine woman who sued a doctor for malpractice because she said he overprescribed her methadone has been awarded $1.9 million by a jury.

Charlene Whalen of Corinth sued Dr. Steven Weisberger, alleging the dosage of the prescription he gave her to manage pain was too high, causing her to stop breathing in her sleep and suffer brain damage from oxygen deprivation.

A nine-member jury on Thursday returned a unanimous verdict against the Jonesport doctor.

The 59-year-old Whalen’s lawyer tells the Bangor Daily News he hopes the verdict makes doctors more careful and patients safer.

Neither Weisberger nor his attorney commented. At trial, Wesiberger’s lawyer said Whalen never told her pharmacist at the time she filled the prescription that she already had breathing problems and suffered from sleep apnea.