The Kansas Court of Appeals has dismissed the appeal of a former Lawrence doctor, who was ordered to pay a Lawrence nurse $75,000 for battery and emotional distress.
Robert A. Wilson had argued that the case brought against him by Pamela K. Wright should not have gone to trial and that the award was excessive. The court dismissed both claims.
Wilson and Wright are both former employees of Lawrence Family Physicians.
In her civil lawsuit, Wright alleged that Wilson touched her breast and thighs, made improper comments to her and hugged and kissed her. The court tacked on $5,000 in punitive damages.
Wilson was fired from Lawrence Family Physicians in December 1997.
Wilson's Kansas doctor's license was revoked in April 1998 by the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts based on 72 allegations against him, ranging from sexual misconduct to overprescribing diet drugs. He also was fined by the board.
According to documents from the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, Wilson was accused of sexual misconduct with a dental hygienist who worked in the same building, two patients, the wife of a patient, a receptionist in his office, a medical records technician at the hospital and two nurses in his office.
Nursing home case
In a separate ruling, the appellate court dismissed most of an appeal made by a Lawrence nursing home that had been ordered to pay $428,000 to the daughter of a woman who had been hurt in four falls at the facility.
But the court agreed that the total award should have been capped at $250,000, the state limit for noneconomic damages.
Innovative Health of Kansas, 1311 Wakarusa, appealed the lawsuit brought by Pat Hoover.
Hoover said her mother, Bessie Moore, had fallen and been injured four times because of the nursing home's negligence in 1992 and 1993. The suit went to a jury, which awarded money for each fall totaling $428,000.
Innovative Health argued that the case never should have gone to trial and that the verdict was excessive, among other things.
The court threw out most of the nursing home's claims, but agreed that the state's $250,000 cap is on the total amount to each party, rather than for each incident.
-- Kendrick Blackwood's phone message number is 832-7221. His e-mail address is kblackwood@ljworld.com.
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