By Robert McAtee, MD & Elena McAtee, MD

We write to encourage you to urgently ask your State Representative and Senator to pass medical malpractice reform in the next legislative session.

I am an Emergency Medicine Physician in Española and my wife is a Family Medicine Physician here in Los Alamos. We love New Mexico, but we can no longer ignore how our state’s malpractice environment is driving doctors away and making it harder for patients to get timely care.

The numbers are stark. Independent analyses by Think New Mexico demonstrate that New Mexico has one malpractice lawsuit for roughly every 14,000 residents – the second highest rate in the nation – and that New Mexico was the only state to lose practicing physicians between 2019 and 2024.

This has contributed to alarming physician shortages and long waits for specialty care. Additionally, New Mexico currently has the oldest physician workforce in the nation, with over 39% of doctors age 60 or older, many likely to retire by 2030. As a result, New Mexico’s physician shortage is estimated to more than double between 2020-2030, projected to be the second worst shortage in the country. The situation in Los Alamos could be even more dire, as one could project retirement of many of our local physicians in the coming decade.

My wife and I have experienced first-hand how this worsening shortage impacts clinical care. Compared to when we practiced in Arizona and Texas, patients have much longer wait-times to see primary care physicians, specialists (if available at all), and seek care out-of-state at a much higher rate. Additionally, the way in which we practice medicine is often impacted by the constraints we face. For example, in the Emergency Department, I am frequently forced to admit patients to the hospital for procedures or care that would easily be obtainable as an outpatient in Texas or Arizona. This poses needless costs to individuals, the healthcare system, and taxpayers.

Medical malpractice reform in New Mexico is an essential step toward improving healthcare services in our state. New Mexico’s excessive rate of malpractice litigation drives up insurance premiums for physicians, which are nearly twice the cost of premiums in Arizona, Texas, Colorado and Utah. Alarmingly, many insurance providers no longer insure physicians in the state of New Mexico. This is because New Mexico has the highest insurance loss ratio in the nation, 183.6% – this means that for every $100 that insurance companies receive in premiums, they pay out $183 in claims! The national average is 73.5%. No wonder insurance companies either pass these costs on to the providers or flat out refuse to provide coverage in New Mexico.

The high litigation rate also encourages “defensive medicine,” which increases statewide healthcare costs, and generally makes practicing medicine here more expensive and riskier compared to our neighboring states. While reform alone will not “solve” the shortage of providers, as you can see, this problem cannot be solved without malpractice reform as the foundation for an evidence-based package of policies.

We are not advocating for taking away patient rights. We believe in accountability. We are asking for balanced, evidence-based reforms that protect patients and keep New Mexico a place where physicians can reasonably practice. Sensible options other states have adopted include: capping attorney fees, clearer standards for expert witnesses, reforms to prevent out-of-state forum shopping, reasonable limits for punitive damages, and rules to prevent excessive surprise awards that bankrupt community providers. These policy options have been debated in many states and can be tailored to protect patients while stabilizing practice environments.

Despite serious consideration in the last full legislative session, our state legislature failed to pass malpractice reform. It appears that some state legislators are unwilling to accept the validity of the data on this issue. It also appears that state legislators were/are heavily influenced by lobbying and contributions from the New Mexico Trial Lawyer’s Association. In fact, investigations and recent disclosures show that trial-lawyer-affiliated groups and the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association have spent substantial sums on campaigns to oppose malpractice reform – sometimes through groups that initially hid their donors – making it difficult for the public to see who is truly shaping policy. When those who financially benefit from the current system are also the loudest in the legislature, meaningful reform becomes much harder.

In addition, some legislators believe that measures other than malpractice reform, such as “loan repayment schemes,” are the solution for attracting providers to New Mexico. Sadly, such notions show a profound misunderstanding of evidence-based health policy and of physician perceptions of practicing medicine in New Mexico. While loan repayment might attract some physicians, it certainly will not retain physicians or set our state apart from our neighboring states that also offer loan repayment and have much more physician-friendly malpractice climates. As physicians, we can tell you that New Mexico has a reputation as a hostile state in which to practice medicine – all you have to do is google “worst states to practice medicine” and New Mexico will consistently be near the top of that list. Why would a physician choose to practice medicine in New Mexico, and accept higher costs and risk, unless he/she has non-career reasons to be here? They wouldn’t. We wouldn’t.

We must speak up. New Mexicans must tell our legislators that we cannot and will not tolerate this unnecessary and harmful physician shortage in our state. In the absence of meaningful reform, the problem will only get worse – just look at the data. The next legislative session will start soon. If you have had to travel out of state for care, have waited months to see a specialist, or have had to find a new local doctor because someone left, tell your story. Write to your legislator, submit a letter to this paper, and demand that lawmakers pass reforms that preserve patient rights while also ensuring that New Mexico can attract and retain physicians. Our health depends upon it.

You can reach your State Representative and Senator at the following email addresses:
Representative Christine Chandler: christine.chandler@nmlegis.gov
Senator Leo Jaramillo: leo.jaramillo@nmlegis.gov
Share your story at: https://www.patientlednm.org/

References:

https://www.thinknewmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/
HealthCareProfessionalShortageReport2024.pdf
https://moneytrailnm.com/candidates/christine-chandler-ZjqHa/?utm_source
https://nmindepth.com/2025/ethics-commission-notches-another-win-against-dark-money/?
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