There’s No Mystery About Malpractice

This commentary was submitted by Merilee Dannemann

We can’t take action on the medical malpractice issue, said Rep. Liz Thomson, because we don’t have data.

You’ve got to be kidding, I muttered.

Thomson made this comment to a standing-room-only audience at a pre-legislature town hall where she was one of eight legislators on stage. It was almost the end of the event, which had until that moment been pretty cordial. 

Instead of asking for closing statements, the moderator asked for each legislator’s final comments to be his or her proposed solutions on the issue of healthcare, which all had agreed was a major concern. The statement about data was part of Thompson’s response.

I have two answers to that. 

First, our legislators don’t have enough data on most topics and often have to take action without it. Over the years I have looked for data on many topics and sometimes found there wasn’t any, or there wasn’t enough. In the field where I have the most background, workers’ compensation, the state paid for a limited study in the late 1990s, and advocates have been asking for a new one for at least 15 years, but the legislature has not funded it.

Second, on the malpractice issue, we have more than enough data to know what the problem is. 

This issue is fairly simple because it’s right in front of us. Doctors are leaving New Mexico. They are not just saying it, they are doing it, and they are telling us it’s because malpractice insurance is either too expensive or, even worse, impossible to get. Many of us know first hand or have heard stories from friends who were left without a doctor recently, maybe more than once, had to find a new one and had to wait months for an appointment.

We don’t need further proof to know that there’s a crisis, or to know what’s causing it.

Thomson also said we don’t know why insurance companies are raising rates, implying that maybe insurers think they can get away with an unjustified price increase. 

But in fact we do know because we were all here when the malpractice law was changed in 2021. (The details have been covered thoroughly so I’m not repeating them here.) 

Our excessively lawyer-friendly malpractice law is not the only cause of New Mexico’s health care crisis. Some of the other components are well known, and I have written about a few of them. 

We know New Mexico has too high a percentage of patients on Medicaid, which does not pay the doctor even enough to meet expenses. Another serious concern is the purchase of small rural hospitals by private equity firms that put profit over service, sometimes to the point of bankruptcy. These and other factors require attention, but the solutions are complex.

The malpractice law is something lawmakers can control. That’s the difference. To mention simplicity again, it’s a law, and rewriting laws is what lawmakers do. The only force keeping the current law in place is the will of the trial lawyers’ lobby and their political action committee, the Committee on Individual Responsibility, which contributes heavily to some legislators.

Thomson is chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, which gives her a great deal of influence over legislation that will be considered in this coming session. She is a retired physical therapist and aside from this one issue, she has been a strong advocate for New Mexicans’ health needs. Her campaign website devotes a whole page to healthcare as a top priority. 

“One of the main problems with healthcare in New Mexico is the shortage of care providers,” says her website. Maybe someone should remind her of that.

Contact Merilee Dannemann through www.triplespacedagain.com.