SANTA FE — A Republican lawmaker on Friday introduced legislation to revise New Mexico’s medical malpractice laws, arguing that rising legal risk and costs are pushing doctors and nurses out of the state and worsening an already serious health care staffing shortage.
Rep. Jenifer Jones, R-Deming, said her proposal would make changes to the state’s Medical Malpractice Act in an effort to keep hospitals open and improve access to care, particularly in communities where patients face long waits, limited specialty services and shrinking provider networks.
“With doctors leaving the state and families struggling to access care, inaction is not an option,” Jones said in a statement announcing the bill. “This bill is about keeping providers here, keeping hospitals open, and making sure patients get the care they need when they need it.”
Jones’ bill would adjust how damages are handled in malpractice cases, revise standards for punitive damages and limit some legal fees. It also proposes updates to how the state’s Patient’s Compensation Fund pays claims, a fund intended to cover certain malpractice costs and provide financial protection for providers and patients.
Supporters say the changes would bring more predictability to the malpractice system and help curb rising insurance and liability costs that can make it harder to recruit and retain medical professionals. Critics of similar reforms in the past have argued that changes risk limiting compensation for injured patients and weakening accountability.
The proposal arrives as New Mexico continues to grapple with one of the nation’s most severe health care workforce shortages. Hospitals and clinics have warned for years that vacancy rates for nurses and physicians are forcing longer wait times, increasing reliance on traveling staff and pressuring smaller facilities — especially rural hospitals — that have fewer resources to absorb staffing losses.
Policy groups have increasingly connected the workforce crisis to the state’s legal environment surrounding malpractice. Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan policy organization, has argued that medical liability laws are among the major reasons physicians decide to leave the state or retire early.
Dr. Nathaniel Roybal, an Albuquerque retina surgeon who has supported malpractice reform, recently urged the medical community to be more direct about the issue. “For too long, doctors have been silent,” Roybal wrote in a recent editorial calling for reforms he said are needed to keep providers practicing in New Mexico.
Jones’ office pointed to broader trends suggesting New Mexico has struggled more than other states to keep physicians. Health care leaders have cited studies indicating the state saw a net decline in practicing physicians in recent years, while most states saw increases.
The proposal is likely to generate sharp debate, with lawmakers weighing how to balance patient protections with efforts to stabilize the health care workforce and maintain access to care statewide.
