A cap on any malpractice suit passed by Kansas State legislature has been upheld by the Kansas Supreme Court.

The new law which caps any money paid out for what is called non economic damages to $250,000 was challenged, but a majority of judges on the Court body felt the law was correct and justified.

The idea originally of the new law was aimed at trying to prevent plaintiffs claiming what was considered disproportionate damages for non economic factors such as injury and disfigurement, pain and suffering and mental anguish, none of which were deemed to affect the earning potential of claimants.

The ruling came about after a woman took her medical practitioner to court when he mistakenly removed the woman’s left ovary instead of the right ovary during surgery. She was awarded $759,679.74 in damages but this was reduced to comply with the Kansas Law. However the woman felt aggrieved that her economic circumstances were now heavily affected and wanted more money as compensation. As such the lady challenged the statute.

The USA is known for hundreds of medical malpractice suits being filed each year. These suits often resulted in huge amounts of money being paid out by medical insurance companies. Hence, the new law was brought in to try and cut down on this as well as try to reduce the number of suits being filed.

Malpractice suits have also been on the increase in Britain with many plastic surgeons being sued for work carried out that has gone wrong. Some argue that if the American model of medicine is adopted in Britain rather than the present NHS system, this will inevitably lead to a rapid growth in malpractice suits being filed.