A couple is suing a radiologist and two Maine health providers for medical malpractice, accusing the radiologist of overlooking a significant warning sign of a stroke.

The stroke that Jeffrey Sayward suffered on May 29, 2023, changed his life, leading to extensive rehabilitative treatment and costly medical care, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Friday.

Nearly nine hours before the stroke, a scan showed a potential clot in a major artery carrying oxygen to his brain, the lawsuit alleges. Sayward wasn’t notified, and Dr. Eric J. Sax, a radiologist who reviewed the scan, did not mention it to other medical staff treating Sayward at Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford, according to the lawsuit.

“This was a critical finding that a competent radiologist was compelled to detect,” Elizabeth Kayatta, an attorney for Jeffrey and Kim Sayward, wrote in the lawsuit.

The couple raised their family in Dayton, according to their lawyers, and were in Maine at the time of Jeffrey Sayward’s stroke. They now live in Florida, allowing them to pursue their claims in federal court.

They are suing Sax for medical malpractice or negligence. Sax did not respond on Tuesday to a request to discuss the allegations made through a spokesperson for Tufts Medical Center. The spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that Sax is listed as one of Tufts’ doctors.

Neither Spectrum Healthcare Partners, which Sax worked for, nor MaineHealth, which oversees the Biddeford hospital, responded to requests for comment. Both are being sued for their role as locations where Sax worked.

Sayward said in his complaint that the emergency doctors in Biddeford relied on Sax’s findings when they discharged him from the Biddeford hospital, where he was treated after fainting that morning. They told him he was likely dehydrated from playing golf a day earlier.

That night, Sayward was experiencing stroke-like symptoms and called 911, according to the complaint. A second scan confirmed that it was a stroke.

Jeffrey and Kim Sayward are seeking damages for medical bills, lost earnings, emotional distress, pain, suffering and injury. Kim Sayward is also seeking damages for loss of consortium, arguing that the defendants’ alleged negligence deprived her of her ability to fully enjoy her husband’s companionship.

The Saywards’ lawsuit is the first known medical malpractice case filed in Maine’s federal court against a nongovernmental defendant since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year, Kayatta said.

In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that a federal lawsuit in Delaware could proceed, even though it didn’t meet procedural requirements for medical malpractice cases under Delaware’s rules for state courts.

Kayatta hopes the couple’s case will lead to a similar decision in Maine, where medical malpractice lawsuits must undergo a closed screening process under the Maine Health Security Act before they can be filed in state superior courts.

“The Maine Health Security Act really shrouds in secrecy the vast majority of medical malpractice cases that are happening in Maine,” Kayatta said. If more cases are filed publicly in federal court, Kayatta said it could lead to “greater transparency and public awareness” of medical errors that occur in Maine.