OPINION: My patients lost their doctor due to NM’s malpractice law

I was disappointed to read former-Speaker Brian Egolf’s recent opinion piece (“Putting patients, providers first: A plan for NM health care” in the Aug. 17 Sunday Journal), which misrepresented his 2021 medical malpractice legislation and attempted to obscure the very real reasons why doctors like me can no longer practice in New Mexico.

In 1989, I opened my OB-GYN practice in Santa Fe because I wanted to serve my local community. Managing the business side of my practice in New Mexico was never easy: The expenses were high due to gross receipts taxes on medical services (which are only charged in one other state, Hawaii), as well as low reimbursement rates for treating patients insured by Medicaid. But it was doable, and the challenges were worthwhile to care for my patients.

Everything changed after the medical malpractice overhaul in 2021, which was driven by trial lawyers. Far from being a fair process, doctors were left out of the conversation about this legislation. There were and are no doctors serving in the state House, and only one in the Senate. Meanwhile, Egolf and the lead sponsor of the bill, former Rep. Daymon Ely, are both trial lawyers who make money suing doctors.

The result of the 2021 law was an unbalanced medical malpractice system that prioritizes the profits of lawyers over the interests of patients and providers. Egolf calls the overhaul “meaningful progress,” but I know it was catastrophic for my practice and my patients.

When I got my first medical malpractice insurance bill after the 2021 legislative session, it was double what I had paid the previous year. I was shocked; I thought it must be a mistake. After all, I’ve never had a malpractice judgement against me. So, I called my insurance company. That’s when I learned the increase was a direct result of the 2021 malpractice law. In 2025, the cost of malpractice insurance for an OB-GYN in New Mexico is a minimum of $125,000 a year. These costs are also driving doctors out of independent practice and into large corporate institutions that can afford to cover those soaring malpractice premiums.

After that, I tried everything I could to keep my doors open. My practice lost money in 2022 and 2023. If I stayed in business, my expenses would be so high I would be paying to practice. The medical malpractice increase was the final straw.

I watched the Legislature carefully in early 2023 for any sign that they would help me stay in practice. I went to testify at a hearing of the Legislature, but the legislators did not listen to the doctors’ concerns. When the session ended, nothing had been done. I decided my only option was to close my practice. In July of 2023, I permanently closed my practice and retired several years earlier than I had planned. Had I been a young doctor, I would have had to make the sad decision to leave my home state and move to Colorado or Texas.

I loved caring for my patients, and I wish I still could. When providers can’t practice, patients can’t get care. The patients who are most hurt by this situation are the ones who don’t have the resources to leave the state, who already live in remote areas and whose voices are rarely heard in the state Legislature. Patients are suffering as a direct result of long wait times and complete lack of access to care.

If we are truly going to provide “real support for independent providers who want to keep their individual practice from being consumed by corporate interests,” we can’t ignore the elephant in the room. The trial lawyers are trying to deflect attention away from the major issue causing our provider shortage: the unbalanced medical malpractice law. Solving New Mexico’s doctor shortage will require lawmakers to enact reasonable malpractice reforms like those recommended by Think New Mexico.