Former top staffer returns to the Roundhouse after stroke with message for lawmakers

SANTA FE — For years, John Yaeger largely resisted returning to the Roundhouse.

After suffering a massive stroke in 2018, Yaeger, the former deputy director of the Legislative Council Service, felt reluctant to come back to his former workplace.

“He did not want to come here for the last six years,” his wife, Robin Yaeger, said during an interview at the state Capitol.

But he was back in the Roundhouse this week to visit with legislators and share his story in the hope of helping others by influencing ongoing health care policy debates.

More than six years after his first stroke, John Yaeger can’t walk and can only talk in short phrases, though he fully understands what’s being said and happening around him.

“It’s as if the mouth is unplugged from the brain,” his wife said.

He also cannot read newspapers or operate a computer, though he has been practicing accessing Netflix, she added.

When it happened in 2018, Robin Yaeger said she recognized the symptoms of her husband’s stroke from her paramedic training and got him prompt medical care.

“We did everything right,” she said.

But a medical procedure at the University of New Mexico Hospital left Yaeger with a brain bleed, which prompted a craniotomy, a partial removal of his brain and several subsequent infections, she said.

The couple eventually settled a medical malpractice lawsuit with the hospital in 2021, but Robin Yaeger said a cap on damages has meant the family has had to file for disability benefits.

“If they had just gone in and got the clot out he would be walking and talking,” she said.

She also said the family had not previously spoken publicly about the medical complications, due to the emotional reaction it tends to provoke in others.

A spokesman for the UNM Health Sciences Center said Friday the hospital can not publicly discuss care provided to any individual patient.

But the spokesman said “quality and safety” are the hospital’s top priorities, while also citing outside recognition for care levels.

A simmering Roundhouse debate

Amid an ongoing medical provider shortage, health care issues have generated countless hours of debate in recent years at the Roundhouse, with much of the back-and-forth discussion focusing on the state’s medical malpractice laws.

Lawmakers in 2023 approved a bipartisan bill aimed at ensuring independent outpatient clinics could obtain the insurance they need to continue operating.

That came after a 2021 rewrite of the medical malpractice law intended to strengthen New Mexico’s patient compensation fund — an account that covers medical malpractice claims that exceed a certain amount — led to some clinics warning they might have to close.

Prior to 2022, the state’s cap on medical malpractice damages was $600,000 per occurrence, but the cap is now set to gradually increase in future years based on an inflation index. Punitive damages awarded by a court are not capped.

The recent changes have not fully alleviated concerns among physicians, patient advocates or hospital executives, as several bills have been filed during this year’s 60-day legislative session on health care issues.

One bill, Senate Bill 176, would cap attorney’s fees in medical malpractice cases and end lump-sum payments from the patient compensation fund.

Another bill, House Bill 138, would require New Mexico hospitals to establish staffing plans featuring minimum nurse-to-patient ratios.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also addressed the issue during her State of the State Address, while proposing a state-run medical malpractice insurance program.

“There’s still a long wait for appointments. Patients are still driving long distances to see a specialist,” Lujan Grisham said. “And health care leaders are clear that the high cost of medical malpractice insurance is the barrier to recruiting and retaining the providers we need.”

A bittersweet return

Robin Yaeger said changes to health care facility staffing ratios and patient compensation are among the policies her family is supporting.

“There were lots of instances that I do think he would have died if I weren’t there,” she said of her husband’s stay at an inpatient care facility following his surgery.

In addition, a speech therapy clinic John Yaeger attended in Florida for six weeks cost $30,000 and such services are not covered by insurance, she said.

Robin Yaeger also said her husband’s medical odyssey has exacted a high toll on their family, including the couple’s two teenage children.

“They basically lost their dad and their mom in a lot of ways, because I had to pivot from homeschooling them to basically being a full-time caregiver,” Robin Yaeger said.

The Yaegers, who were joined at the Roundhouse this week by their attorneys, hope their visit to the state Capitol elicits awareness, not just pity.

“He wouldn’t have come for himself, but he felt like this could help other patients avoid the situation in the future,” Robin Yaeger said.