Columns appear here a week after they're published in print.
© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES 10/7/24
How do we attract doctors and healthcare workers? Think tank has a plan
By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote
How long does it take you to get an appointment with your doctor? If your answer is weeks or months, or “What doctor?” Think New Mexico has you in mind.
The nonpartisan think tank recently published a plan to solve New Mexico’s healthcare worker shortage. The group has done its usual thorough work of defining the problem and presenting a potentially do-able solution.
Most riveting, I thought, is the part about reforming the state’s medical malpractice act. This 48-year-old law, its changes and loopholes are a giveaway to malpractice attorneys. We might as well buy national advertising warning doctors to stay away from New Mexico.
Here are a few alarming facts from the report:
- New Mexico ranks second highest in the nation for the number of medical malpractice lawsuits per capita. The number is more than twice the national average.
- Medical malpractice insurance premiums are nearly twice as high as they are in Arizona, Colorado and Texas, and the costs are growing.
- Even with spiraling premiums, many malpractice insurance companies lose money. The statewide loss ratio for medical malpractice insurers was highest in the nation in 2022, at 183.6%. So for every $100 insurers received, they paid out $183.60.
“The high cost of malpractice insurance, and the high likelihood of being sued, discourage doctors and other health care workers from practicing in New Mexico,” says Think New Mexico.
It’s not that our doctors are worse; we have “a system in place that incentivizes lawyers to file malpractice lawsuits here,” according to the report.
Think New Mexico recommends six reforms:
- Cap attorney’s fees. Lawyers receive 30% to 40% of the verdict. That’s money that the patient doesn’t receive for future medical care. Lawyers are entitled to a reasonable living but not “multi-million dollar windfalls at the expense of gravely injured patients.”
- End lump-sum payouts. Previously, the patient’s treatment over time was paid as expenses were incurred. In 2021 lawmakers reached a hard-won compromise on a controversial medical malpractice reform bill. In the uproar, somebody sneaked in wording that allowed a single, lump-sum payout based on an estimate of the client’s lifetime medical costs. But after the attorney’s share, the patient may not have enough left.
- Stop venue shopping. Lawyers can file medical malpractice lawsuits anywhere in the state, and they prefer places with sympathetic juries. Thirty states now require suits to be filed in the county where the alleged malpractice occurred. In New Mexico, “trial lawyers have repeatedly racked up record-breaking verdicts.”
- Raise the legal standard for punitive damages and cap them. The 2021 changes to malpractice law allow the highest caps of the 29 states that cap malpractice liabililty, and punitive damages aren’t capped. While punitive damages are rare in other places, they’re routine here, and unlike 32 other states, our burden of proof is minimal.
- Prohibit lawyers from filing multiple lawsuits over a single malpractice incident – a way lawyers get around caps on damages.
- Require that damages awarded for future medical costs reflect the actual cost of care.
Spend five minutes in the Roundhouse and you quickly see the chummy relationship between the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association and progressive Democrats. The 2021 changes passed with their support.
Then-Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, said later: “It was the worst vote I have ever taken.” Doctors weren’t in the room, and the negotiation was “flawed from the beginning.” She voted for it out of fear the caps could disappear.
Last year another medical malpractice bill threatened to shutter outpatient facilities. Republicans opposed it. Dems dithered until the governor pulled their heads from the sand.
When legislators ask for your vote, question them about medical malpractice reform. The answer will show whether or not they’re working for you.
© 2024 NEW MEXICO NEWS SERVICES 10/7/24
Abortion, a personal story
By Diane Denish
Corner to Corner
On August 8 in a press conference, Donald Trump said he believed abortion has become “much less of an issue” and that it would be a “very small issue” in the general election. He is wrong.
Just a reminder: Donald Trump appointed justices committed to ending a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions. He is proud of getting Roe v. Wade overturned. As a result, almost half the states now either ban or severely restrict women’s right to abortion and reproductive care.
Trump has forgotten about the women of my generation who were of childbearing age before Roe v. Wade. I can assure you we haven’t forgotten what that time was like.
We all know someone who found a way to get an illegal abortion or tried self-inducement by using instruments, poisons, or taking medications. Some women tried throwing themselves down stairs or crashing cars into walls to generate a miscarriage. Others found providers willing to skirt the law or, like me, travelled to another country.
In 1969 I was in love, engaged, and pregnant. My fiancé and I were still at UNM and needed to complete our degrees. We planned to marry but didn’t believe we were ready to be parents. Here is our story:
Neither of us told our parents. Our families were prominent in our communities and although I was certain mine would help me, I agonized over telling them. I knew they would be disappointed. Remember, in 1969 an unmarried, pregnant daughter was still an embarrassment.
At that time there was a vibrant information network on college campuses informing students on how to get an abortion. Travelling to Mexico was one option – the one we chose – although abortion was illegal there as well.
We gathered up enough money from our college allowances and a loving grandmother who asked no questions. The procedure was $300 in American dollars along with travel expenses.
We flew to Mexico City early one day. That evening, following the instructions of the clinic, I was picked up from a low-end Mexican hotel by a driver who drove me in the dark of night to a clinic. I was relieved to find it was immaculately clean and safe. I was surrounded by women from the United States.
I was in initial stages of pregnancy (although beyond the restrictive six weeks’ time of today’s draconian laws). The doctor was a professional, the procedure went well, and I was on my way home to the U. S. in about 36 hours. This, only after we were hustled out of the clinic earlier than expected when word came that there was about to be a raid.
I know I should have been terrified. My fiancé told me later he was terrified as he watched me drive off into the night wondering if I would ever come back. I was so desperate not to be pregnant at that stage of my life I set fear aside.
Pre-Roe 20% to 25% of unwanted pregnancies ended in abortion despite the law. Women found a way to control their own destiny. I did too.
My story is quite different from today’s stories. I know I was lucky. I had a guardian angel as well as a resolute partner. There were no complications. I went on to have a family and three planned pregnancies.
Later as an adult I never summoned the courage to tell either of my parents before they died. However, I did gather the will to tell my daughters and my two older granddaughters. I wanted them to know that abortion is not just a news story, it’s a life story spanning generations of women – including someone they love.