Wrong-ovary surgery prompts Kansas Supreme Court to review caps on malpractice damages

In 2002, Amy Miller of Eudora, Kansas, underwent surgery to remove one of her ovaries. Her doctor, Carolyn Johnson, allegedly removed the wrong one. A Douglas County jury in 2006 awarded Miller nearly $760,000 in damages.

After the trial, the court reduced Miller’s award to $610,000. That’s because in 1988, the Kansas Legislature had set a cap on damages for a plaintiff’s pain and suffering, heeding the warnings of medical providers who claimed that without a cap, malpractice insurance rates would be so unaffordable as to make certain medical procedures too financially risky to perform.