A jury on Thursday awarded former Portland TV personality Ken Ackerman a total of more than $1.4 million in his injury lawsuit against doctors at Oregon Health Sciences University.

KGW photo

Ken Ackerman talks about the lawsuit.

The jury awarded $412,000 in addition to another $1 million in compensatory damages.

The main doctor in the case was found liable. The internist who assisted was not found liable.

Ackerman, 45, sued the hospital and doctors for $5 million, claiming that a botched surgery forced him to live with a constant pain in his right arm and without most of the fine motor skills in his right hand

  File: Ackerman talks about lawsuit

Ackerman, who was a well-known news anchor on KPTV and more recently on KATU, said he can't type or even button shirts with his right arm.

During the trial, opposing counsel painted contrasting pictures of the extent of Ackerman's injuries.

Ackerman's lawyer Richard Rogers showed jurors a video of Ackerman water-skiing and rock-climbing. "Danger Zone," the Kenny Loggins song from the "Top Gun" movie, was the chosen soundtrack.

"This will give you an idea what he could do before the surgery," said Rogers, who also displayed images of Ackerman struggling to move his right arm at a rehabilitation clinic.

A lawyer for OHSU, Mark Wagner, also presented an active Ackerman. Only he showed photos of Ackerman exercising after the surgery, including a snapshot of Ackerman swimming. Moreover, Wagner told jurors that Ackerman continued to play competitive tennis, winning tournaments at the West Hills Racquet Club.

Wagner told jurors that the hospital did not dispute that Ackerman "has deficits linked to the surgery" but that those deficits were not caused by medical malpractice or negligence. Rather, he said, they were "a known risk of the surgery."

  Read OHSU's statement at trial

The attorney for Ackerman estimated that it could take up to two years to complete paperwork and distribution of the award in the case. The jury award is the first since the Oregon Court of Appeals overruled the $200,000 liability cap that shielded OHSU doctors.