SANTA FE — Legislators rejected a proposal to reduce the legal exposure of independently owned outpatient clinics Monday amid an emotional debate over New Mexico’s doctor shortage and patients harmed by medical mistakes.
The bill — sponsored for five House Republicans — sought to keep clinics that aren’t owned by a hospital under a $750,000 cap on damages for medical malpractice claims, plus an annual inflation adjustment.
They otherwise face a $5 million cap set to go into effect Jan. 1 next year as part of a 2021 overhaul of the state Medical Malpractice Act.
Supporters of the bill said some clinics cannot obtain insurance under the higher cap and will face the choice of either closing or selling to a corporate hospital.
Opponents, in turn, accused insurance companies of trying to protect their bottom line at the expense of families harmed by medical mistakes.
Each side offered personal stories.
Dominique Dupont described the experience of giving birth to a daughter who endured brain damage after Dupont was given a dangerous dose of a medication from an unlabeled bag. The medical mistake left her child, now 10, visually impaired and with cerebral palsy, she said.
“This error forever changed my daughter’s life,” Dupont told lawmakers. “We and she deserve justice for the harm that was caused.”
She asked lawmakers to think about whether a lower cap on legal damages would be adequate compensation for a life-ending or -altering mistake.
On the other side, Dr. Gabrielle Adams, president of Southwest Gastroenterology, implored lawmakers to recognize that outpatient clinics like hers were misclassified under the 2021 medical malpractice law, lumped in with corporate hospitals.
The Legislature already acknowledged the difference once — granting independent clinics a temporary reprieve from the higher damages cap — but the new limit is set to go into effect next year, doctors said.
“There is no insurer in the country that will provide us insurance,” Adams said.
An independent clinics like hers, she said, treats tens of thousands of patients a year, expanding access to health care at a lower price than hospitals.
“Losing that service would be devastating,” Rep. Jenifer Jones, R-Deming, said.
In the end, Democratic lawmakers tabled the proposal, House Bill 88, on a 7-3 vote over the objection of Republicans in the House Health and Human Services Committee.
Some of the Democratic lawmakers said they are pursuing strategies to help address New Mexico’s doctor shortage without reopening the 2021 medical malpractice law.
A budget measure approved by the House last week, for example, includes increased funding to better compensate doctors for treatment of Medicaid patients and for expanded medical student loan forgiveness.
Rep. Liz Thomson, an Albuquerque Democrat and chairwoman of the health committee, offered a blunt rebuttal to supporters of Monday’s medical malpractice bill.
She outlined her own experience watching her brother die in the hospital as she unsuccessfully sought help.
“I think the patients have to be protected,” Thomson said.
