Is there a cap on medical malpractice damages in Kansas?

Yes. Like a lot of states, Kansas has a law on the books that limits or “caps” damages that are available to plaintiffs in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Kansas places a $250,000 limit on non-economic damages for each plaintiff in a medical malpractice lawsuit, regardless of how many defendants there are in the case.    

So, even when a plaintiff has made a successful case and a Kansas jury finds that a doctor or other health care provider was negligent, this cap limits the amount of non-economic damages that the plaintiff can receive. So, now you’re probably wondering, what are non-economic damages? They are damages that aren’t easy to capture with a dollar figure, and they are usually pretty subjective from plaintiff to plaintiff. Non-economic damages include compensation for pain and suffering, anxiety, stress, loss of enjoyment, scarring, and other negative effects of the medical malpractice and the extra medical treatment made necessary by it.

It’s important to note here that Kansas’s medical malpractice damages cap does not apply to the other main category of compensation available to a med mal plaintiff: economic damages. This includes payment of past medical bills and all ongoing future medical care, reimbursement of lost income, and compensation for diminished inability to earn a living. These kinds of damages are uncapped in Kansas. Get more information on Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases.