By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote

This is how bad New Mexico’s medical malpractice problem is.

Reader Carl Hester, of Hobbs, writes that when he went to a doctor in Lubbock, he had to sign a statement, apparently intended for New Mexicans, saying “any lawsuit or other dispute arising from or related to medical care I receive from (the provider) will be brought only in an appropriate court located in Lubbock.

New Mexico’s reputation for doctor targeting, judge shopping and sky high awards has spread to Texas, where a great many people living on the East Side go for medical care. Texas providers feel the need to protect themselves. Our own providers don’t have that luxury. It’s one reason why the New Mexico Medical Society says it’s difficult to recruit and retain doctors.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Senate Bill 176 to cap attorney fees in medical malpractice lawsuits at 25% of the money awarded if a case is settled or 33% if a case goes to trial. It would also send 75% of punitive damages to a new public fund designed to improve patient safety.

SB 176 is one in a package of bills advanced by Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan think tank, to address our shortage of healthcare workers.

New Mexico ranks second highest in the nation for medical malpractice lawsuits per capita. The number is more than twice the national average. New Mexico’s medical malpractice insurance premiums are nearly twice those of Arizona, Colorado and Texas and still rising. And yet, many malpractice insurance companies lose money.

We’ve gotten here because of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association’s grip on legislators, many of them lawyers.

I asked my dermatologist about his experience. He said doctor friends have gotten tired of being in legal crosshairs and moved to Montana and Texas. In 20 years he’s been sued three times, once for himself and twice for his physician assistants, even though each time a medical review board voted unanimously in his favor.

Recently, commentary erupted on the listserve Next Door after an Albuquerque breast surgeon asked her patients to contact legislators about the lack of doctors in New Mexico. The patient wrote, “Lawyers giving money to the people we voted into office to not cap the money people get for suing the doctors is the one reason lawmakers don’t do anything about the issue.”

Here’s a sampling of the responses:

“My wife’s (doctor) just retired early. She said if she wasn’t about to retire she would have left this state to practice elsewhere. She said this is a very hostile state to practice medicine in. The legal expectation is that (doctors) should be God and that no possible complication should ever happen, even if it was not the fault of the provider.”

“Doctors and surgeons have left New Mexico due to the high cost of medical malpractice insurance. It is high because there are no legislative restrictions on what trial lawyers can sue for. New Mexico’s legislators, Republican and Democrat, receive huge amounts of campaign contributions from trial lawyers to keep it this way.”

“My daughter is a soon-to-be third-year medical student (out of state) & would love to come back to Albuquerque even for residency… as she loves it here but keeps getting warned not to do it.”

“As someone who actively recruits physicians, (I can say) they don’t want to come here because of the med mal climate. Not only are the premiums sky high, $105k for an Ob/Gyn, but the threat of getting sued in this state and then facing punitive damages on top of the med mal price tag is outrageous. We need tort reform. The trial attorneys have all the money and pay lobbyists to protect their cash cow. They also control the House and Senate so any substantial change will likely not happen.”

“You are exactly right about this! Even those physicians who love this state have to decide how much risk and actual abuse they can take!”

Watch what happens to SB 176. You’re going to hear it’s victim blaming. It’s not. You’re going to hear it’s about healthcare industry profits. That’s a separate, unrelated issue. Who is going to ask the big question: Is it right for lawyers to kneecap our healthcare system so they can harvest millions?

Sherry Robinson is a longtime New Mexico reporter and editor. She has worked in Grants, Gallup, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Business Weekly and Albuquerque Tribune. She is the author of four books. Her columns won first place in 2024 from New Mexico Press Women.