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The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the state's $250,000 cap on pain and suffering in a divided opinion Thursday.
According to the 5-2 ruling in Amy C. Miller v. Carolyn N. Johnson M.D., Ms. Miller sued her doctor after she mistakenly removed her left ovary during 2002 laparoscopic surgery intended to take the right ovary.
A jury awarded her $759,679.74 in damages, but the District Court of Douglas County in Lawrence, Kan., reduced that amount by $425,000 because of the state law that limits noneconomic damages in personal injury lawsuits, and a post-trial ruling that found her evidence of future medical expenses insufficient.
Kansas' 1998 law limits the total amount recoverable to $250,000 for noneconomic loss in a personal injury action, including medical malpractice claims.
The majority held the law was constitutional based on four issues: that the law did not violate the plaintiff’s right to a jury trial, right to remedy by due course of law, right to equal protection under the law, or the separation of powers doctrine.
The ruling said: “Admittedly, the Legislature’s failure to increase the $250,000 cap on economic damages over the more than 20 years since it first set that amount is troubling to this court.” It adds, however, that this does not render the cap unconstitutional.
The court agreed unanimously the trial court had erred in striking the jury’s $100,000 reward for future medical expenses. “The district court’s post-trial order constitutes an abuse of discretion under our standard of review,” said the ruling. The court also denied the doctor’s motion for a new trial.
The case was remanded.
This year, a federal judge ruled that a 2003 Texas law that caps pain and suffering awards in health care lawsuits is constitutional.