Kansas Supreme Court Called to Protect Patients From Tort Reform
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Kansas, like Georgia, will be visiting the problem of tort reform this year as it decides whether or not caps on damages in medical malpractice cases violates a patient's rights after he or she has been injured by a doctor's negligence.
The legal battle surrounds a wrongly removed ovary. Amy Miller of Eudora, Kansas, went to have her right ovary removed. Dr. Carolyn Johnson unfortunately removed the left ovary instead. Ms. Miller filed a lawsuit and a Kansas jury comprised of her peers returned a verdict for $759,680.
However, because of laws in Kansas that place limits on damages for pain and suffering (noneconomic damages) in medical malpractice, the Judge in the case stripped $150,000 of the verdict that had to do with future noneconomic loss.
Attorneys for Ms. Miller argue that Kansas's law on medical malpractice caps violates Kansas's constitutional guarantees to a jury trial.
In addition to the Constitutional violation, her attorney argues that it violates the seperation fo powers by allowing the Legislature to unnecessarily take away a power vested to the judiciary and juries.
Most important, however, is the fact that caps on noneconomic damages do nothing but place the greatest limitations on the people who have been injured the most. Follow us as we let you know how these pivotal cases are decided across the country.