No further penalty for nurse who let patient go in snowstorm

PORTLAND, Maine – Maine officials have lost their effort to impose a greater penalty on a nurse whose license was suspended after he let a disoriented patient leave a hospital during a snowstorm.

The patient died, and the Maine State Board of Nurses sought to revoke John Zablotny’s license for two years. A judicial review reduced the penalty to a 90-day suspension, and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that decision Tuesday.

The judge found that Zablotny failed to provide complete information to the 61-year-old patient about the risks of leaving Down East Community Hospital in Machias on Jan. 1, 2008. He was found dead the next day, dressed only in slippers, socks, pants and a flannel shirt.

Zablotny’s lawyer, Joe Baldacci, said his client has been working since 2010 at Mount Desert Island Hospital and has earned good reviews.

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