A woman from Skowhegan, Maine, has been awarded $17 million in a lawsuit after a botched surgery to remove an ovarian cyst left her without most of her bladder.
Emily Mitchell had surgery in 2023 to remove the cyst at Northern Light Health Inland Hospital, WMTW reported Friday, noting the facility has since shut down.
Mitchell said she suffered intense pain and had difficulty urinating after the laparoscopic procedure. When the patient was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center, surgeons there realized most of her bladder had been removed as they performed an emergency procedure on Mitchell to find the cause of her pain.
According to pathologists, the tissue removed during the patient’s initial surgery held fragments of her bladder.
Mitchell “never consented to the removal of her bladder,” the 2025 lawsuit stated:
“For more than eight months, Mitchell’s attorneys say she relied on bilateral nephrostomy tubes to drain urine directly from her kidneys while enduring recurrent urinary tract infections, kidney infections, multiple medical procedures, and ongoing complications. She was eventually referred to a Massachusetts provider where surgeons performed a complex reconstructive surgery using a portion of her small intestine to create a neobladder,” the WMTW article read.
In its verdict Thursday, a Kennebec County jury said she would be awarded the money in the medical malpractice case, holding Northern Light Inland Hospital and Northern Light Health responsible, News Center Maine reported.
“Northern Light will give Emily Mitchell $17 million in damages for past and future medical expenses, as well as emotional distress, pain, and permanent impairment. Attorneys said this is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Kennebec County history,” the outlet said.
In a statement regarding the case’s outcome, Berman & Simmons attorney Susan Faunce said, “For Emily and her family, this is the closure they’ve needed for a long time. They can finally begin to move forward, knowing that what happened to them was seen, heard, and acknowledged.”
Ovarian cysts are common growths and most types are considered harmless, per the Cleveland Clinic’s website.
However, “If a cyst is causing symptoms and getting bigger, you may need surgery to remove it. The type of surgery depends on the size of the cyst and how it appears on the ultrasound,” the clinic noted.
