OPINION: Tort reform needed to improve health care

I moved to New Mexico five years ago at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then I have been a practicing anesthesiologist in Santa Fe and have also had the distinct honor of serving as the president of the New Mexico Society of Anesthesiologists. This has given me the unique position to interact with many anesthesiologists, both in as well as out-of-state, and it has shed some light on the many difficulties of being a physician in New Mexico.

Most pressing, I would say, is the challenge of recruitment and retention, as a result of the inability to obtain affordable malpractice insurance. The state has developed a reputation as having an aggressively predatory and litigious climate that often targets physicians, with several recent high-profile verdicts underscoring the risks. Notable cases include a $40 million award against Presbyterian and an extraordinary $412 million verdict involving a patient who visited NuMale Medical. Such outcomes send a clear message to physicians nationwide: practicing in New Mexico carries an unusually high risk of catastrophic liability exposure. These verdicts are not isolated; they reflect a legal climate that many feel is driven by malpractice attorneys and advocacy groups that operate under ostensibly neutral names — such as the “New Mexico Safety Over Profits” group — which function as coordinated trial lawyer networks focused on targeting health care providers. The resulting insurance premiums and fear of litigation make recruitment of anesthesiologists and all physicians extremely difficult.

Even beyond liability concerns, economic factors compound the problem. Anesthesiologists — like all recent medical graduates — leave training with staggering debt, often exceeding $250,000. Choosing where to practice becomes both a financial decision as much as a professional one. States offering higher pay, lower malpractice risk and stronger job security naturally attract these new graduates. Unfortunately, New Mexico’s Medicaid reimbursement rates are among the lowest in the nation, and Medicaid covers a large share of our population, most of whom are uninsured. This means anesthesiologists, and all physicians, are often paid far less for the same work than in neighboring states. This is why even our own residency graduates — who know these challenges well — choose to move elsewhere for better pay, lower risk and greater professional support.

Without meaningful tort reform and a commitment to sustainable health care funding that allows physicians to keep their doors open, the shortage of anesthesiologists in New Mexico will only deepen, jeopardizing timely, safe surgical care statewide.

Michael Gajewski is an anesthesiologist and president of the New Mexico Society of Anesthesiologists.