A Kennebec County jury awarded Emily Mitchell $17 million last Thursday after finding that surgeons at Northern Light Inland Hospital removed her bladder during a procedure intended to treat a benign ovarian cyst. The verdict is the largest medical malpractice award in Kennebec County history, and it arrived against a health system whose Waterville hospital has since permanently closed.

The case: a routine surgery that caused irreversible harm

The surgery was scheduled after imaging showed a benign ovarian cyst had grown significantly. What followed, according to attorneys at Berman & Simmons, was not a complication in the conventional sense. Pathology confirmed the tissue removed from Mitchell during the March 1, 2023 procedure was "full-thickness bladder tissue." Her condition deteriorated after the original operation, requiring emergency transfer to a second facility, where surgeons discovered the full extent of the error.

Reconstruction was not possible. Surgeons determined that insufficient healthy bladder tissue remained to repair or rebuild the organ. For the next eight months, Mitchell relied on bilateral nephrostomy tubes, thin plastic tubes placed through the skin of the lower back to drain urine directly from the kidneys into external bags. During that time she experienced recurring urinary tract infections, kidney infections, and multiple additional procedures.

She was eventually referred to Massachusetts, where surgeons constructed a neobladder using a portion of her small intestine. Mitchell still inserts a catheter multiple times each day and requires ongoing specialist care. Attorneys said she "continues to live with the permanent effects of those injuries" nearly three years after the original operation.

The counterargument: accountability against a closed institution

The strongest objection to treating this verdict as a systemic corrective is straightforward. Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville closed in May 2025, after more than 80 years of operation. The health system cited higher operational costs, reimbursement rates it described as unsustainably low, and a tight labor market. A $17 million verdict against an institution that no longer operates raises the question of what deterrence looks like when the institution is already gone.

Attorney Susan A. Faunce said the verdict gives Mitchell's family closure after years of harm that went unacknowledged. Whether it changes the calculus for other rural systems operating under similar financial pressures remains an open question.

On balance

The jury's finding follows the physical evidence: pathology confirmed the wrong tissue was removed, reconstruction was impossible, and Mitchell has lived with permanent consequences since the original surgery. The $17 million award covers past and future medical expenses, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, and permanent impairment. The two-week trial found both Northern Light Inland Hospital and Northern Light Health liable.

Related reading