OPINION: Threats of punitive damages drive docs from New Mexico

As a physician leader in New Mexico for over 30 years, I want to speak plainly about why our state is losing physicians and what must be done. I recently testified before a key Legislative Interim Committee during its hearing on medical malpractice reform. The day before, several legislators had asked why no physicians had been invited to speak, even though the exodus of physicians is the central issue. So, when I was given the chance to speak for physicians, I took that responsibility seriously.

In the hearing, I raised one of the most urgent concerns among physicians today: the ever-present threat of uncapped punitive damages in medical malpractice cases. This threat is driving physicians to leave New Mexico, retire early or choose not to practice here in the first place.

We see the consequences around us every day. Patients are waiting longer for appointments, driving hours for care or being sent out of state for care. Physicians are choosing to practice in other states with less hostile malpractice laws. Physicians leaving the state are publicly sharing deeply personal statements of regret about leaving their patients and the communities they have served for years. These letters share the same themes: sorrow, exhaustion and a sense that staying has become unworkable.

Of note, this is not happening because massive punitive verdicts occur every day. They do not. It is happening because physicians in New Mexico know that the punitive damage risk is unlimited. Record-breaking awards have occurred and remain excessive even when later reduced on appeal. A single lawsuit can threaten a physician’s home, savings and future even if the care they provided met the accepted standard of practice. This creates a constant, corrosive environment. One accusation can trigger years of invasive legal dissection, including character attacks and extensive probing of personal financial records, with impacts that cut far deeper than malpractice insurance can address.

So, many physicians settle claims even when their care may have been appropriate. They settle quickly because the risk of losing everything is simply too great. This is not rumor. This is not exaggeration. These are rational responses to an irrational system. During the hearing, some legislators asked thoughtful questions, which was appreciated. Unfortunately, committee leadership opted for rhetorical tactics that prevented productive dialogue, reframing legitimate physician concerns as exaggeration, flooding the conversation with argument fragments that allowed no response time, and most troubling, blaming physicians themselves for the physician shortage by suggesting we are spreading misinformation.

Physicians are not causing this crisis. Physicians instead are working harder than ever to serve New Mexicans. When a patient is bleeding, we do not debate whether the bleeding is real. We acknowledge it, we act and we stop the bleeding. Our legislative leaders must do the same. This begins with recognizing the loss of physicians as real and acknowledging that the open-ended threat of punitive damages is a primary driver.

Trial lawyers are not the problem. They operate within the rules lawmakers have written. The problem is the lack of legislative leadership willing to change rules that now harm patients. If you have waited months for care, driven long distances for treatment or worried about an emergency, now is the time to act.

Call or email your legislators. Tell them your story. Ask them to support malpractice reform that brings us back in line with other states, with whom we compete for doctors. If our leaders will not fix it in the upcoming legislative session, then later in 2026 we must vote in leaders who will. We deserve leaders who face reality and act with urgency.