Vital Sounds 2025, Quarter 3
Vital Sounds 2025, Quarter 3
Recent MPL Case Joins List of Highest Jury Verdicts in Kansas History
August 7, 2025
Recent MPL Case Joins List of Highest Jury Verdicts in Kansas History
August 7, 2025
By Tucker Poling, JD, CPCU
In June 2025, a Johnson County jury awarded $5.7 million against a mental health counselor, an emergency medicine APRN, and the hospital at which they worked. The lawsuit centered on the death of a 49-year-old marketing executive who died by suicide three days after discharge. The plaintiffs’ attorneys alleged that the counselor and APRN did not adequately assess suicide risk during the emergency room visit in 2021. The jury found the defendants at fault, awarding $4.2 million for economic loss and $1.5 million for non-economic damages. This verdict is the largest medical malpractice award in Johnson County to date.
Although this case did not involve any healthcare professionals insured by KAMMCO, we follow every professional malpractice case in the state as part of our commitment to providing best-in-class local expertise in Kansas medical malpractice defense. As the only Kansas-based medical malpractice insurance carrier, we look to learn from every case in our region.
Where does this case fit in the history of Kansas Medical Malpractice verdicts?
Historically, in approximately 90% of the medical malpractice cases that have gone to trial in Kansas, the jury has rejected the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ allegations and monetary demands and found that the healthcare provider was not at fault. Those approximately 10% of trials that have resulted in a verdict against the healthcare provider usually result in relatively moderate monetary awards.
However, the few unusually high jury awards – approximately 40% of which go to the plaintiffs’ attorneys rather than the injured plaintiff – tend to have an outsized destabilizing influence on the overall healthcare environment in Kansas.
Over the past 40 years, including this recent case, there have been five medical malpractice trials in Kansas that resulted in verdicts over $5 million:
- 2025: Yates v. Whitehead (the recent case) – $5.7 Million
- 2019: Perez v. Wesley – $6.5 Million
- 2009: MLM v. Gard – $12.1 Million
- 1990: Gregory v. Carey – $6.3 Million
- 1984: Olsen v. Humana – $15 Million
What this recent verdict illustrates about the current Kansas medical malpractice environment:
1. The critical role of the Fund in an evolving healthcare delivery landscape.
- This case is an example of a case in which a lack of Fund protection left both the APRN and the hospital that employed her more vulnerable to liability claims. As we’ve discussed in previous issues of Vital Sounds, because APRNs are currently excluded from the definition of "healthcare provider" in the Fund statute, they do not qualify for the benefits of the Fund’s liability coverage that other advanced practice professionals, such as Physician Assistants and Nurse Anesthetists, have. Further, neither they nor their employers enjoy the same legal protections limiting vicarious liability and other liability claims arising out of the actions of other healthcare providers. In this case, the hospital was held vicariously liable for the actions of the APRN, which would not have been possible if the APRN qualified for Fund coverage.
- With non-physician healthcare professionals playing an expanded role in providing core healthcare services, we can expect plaintiffs’ attorneys to target those healthcare professionals not protected by the Fund in order to seek liability against the hospitals at which they work. Plaintiff attorneys perceive hospitals as having “deep pockets,” and thus often pursue allegations that will allow them to assert a claim that the hospital is vicariously liable for the actions of individual professionals who work at the hospital.
- This verdict, while high, is consistent with the history of verdicts in Kansas. Historically, Kansas has had approximately one medical malpractice case every decade in which the jury verdict was over $5 million.
2. The Kansas medical malpractice litigation environment is still relatively stable, for now, which offers an opportunity to reduce the risk of a healthcare access crisis in Kansas.
- Thus, the ongoing legislative discussion of whether the Healthcare Stabilization Fund should be updated to include coverage for APRNs may have a significant impact on maintaining stable access to care in Kansas.
- On the positive side, it’s encouraging that Kansas has not experienced the rash of “nuclear verdicts” in healthcare that have occurred in other states. However, the experience of other states, such as Iowa and New Mexico, shows the dangers of not taking proactive action to prevent excessive jury verdicts from driving healthcare providers out of the state and reducing patient access to quality care. Tort reform is one factor in reducing the risk that Kansas becomes a more attractive place for trial lawyers but a less attractive place for healthcare providers and patients.
Having a relentless professional liability advocate on your side is more important than ever.
Some of the strategies and methods recently identified nationally as effective ways to deal with the current malpractice claims environment are the same things that have been the hallmark of KAMMCO’s approach to claims for nearly 35 years. As the Kansas professional malpractice landscape continues to evolve, you can rely on KAMMCO to follow and adapt to every development. We’re fully invested in our role as your trusted expert in Kansas Medical Malpractice defense.