The New Mexico Senate late Tuesday passed a medical malpractice overhaul bill that has drawn widespread public interest amid a statewide doctor shortage.
The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has called malpractice reform one of her top priorities in her final legislative session as governor and urged the Legislature to pass the measure.
The Senate voted 40-2 to support House Bill 99, sponsored by Reps. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) and Gail Armstrong (D-Magdalena). The two “no” votes came from Sens. Shannon Pinto (D-Tohatchi) and Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque).
House lawmakers who drafted the bill urged the Senate to pass HB99 and touted it as a compromise that seeks to improve the state’s climate for doctors while also ensuring patients harmed by malpractice get compensation they deserve.
The final vote came after the chamber, including eight Democrats who voted alongside Republicans, voted to strip amendments that the Senate Judiciary Committee had added earlier Tuesday.
At the committee meeting Tuesday morning, Senate Judiciary Chair Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) introduced three amendments, which the committee voted to adopt, that he said would shield the law from constitutional and other court challenges.
One amendment changed definitions about what counts as a medical injury subject to litigation; another required that medical costs awarded to an injured patient are based on how much the patient was billed instead of how much the patient actually paid. The third struck language that enabled New Mexico-owned hospitals to have a lower cap on punitive damages.
On the Senate floor, Sen. Crystal Brantley (R-Elephant Butte), who also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced the amendment that removed the Senate Judiciary amendments from the bill. She described them as “poison pills” that “disregard the hard work of good faith-efforts that went into this legislation over the past month.”
Cervantes defended the changes as necessary and based on his long history as a trial lawyer. He reiterated his prediction that the unamended bill won’t stand up to legal challenges.
“I have to respectfully ask the body to recognize and respect the work that was done for legal principles based on precedent, based on case law,” he said. “Reject the notion that this is done for money, pecuniary gain, poison pills, all of the rhetoric.”
Lawmakers ultimately voted 25-17 to get rid of the amendments. As a result, the bill does not need to go back to the House of Representatives for a concurrence vote. Chandler told Source before the vote that at least two of the amendments could be tough for fellow House members to accept.
Despite voting in favor of the bill, Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque), who unsuccessfully introduced five amendments to the bill during the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, predicted that the bill will not reduce medical malpractice premiums for doctors, while meanwhile leaving patients harmed due to malpractice with less recourse.
“Let’s stop telling New Mexicans that this bill will fix what’s broken. It won’t,” she said. “It won’t end a nationwide doctor shortage that’s been in the making for 50 years. It won’t improve patient care, and it won’t end malpractice lawsuits.”
In a statement following the vote, Senate Republicans said the bill’s passage vindicated the party for its medical malpractice reform efforts and thanked the governor and her staff “for joining us in advocating for this important reform. We’ve proven we can work together towards true progress on our state’s most pressing issues!”
Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan advocacy group that pushed for many of the reforms included in HB 99, said a wide coalition of organizations and interests came together to send more than 11,000 emails in support.
“House Bill 99 directly addresses the primary reason why so many doctors are considering leaving New Mexico or retiring early: our unbalanced medical malpractice laws,” the organization said in a statement late Tuesday. “The passage of this legislation gives them a reason to stay.”
If Lujan Grisham signs the bill as expected, HB99 goes into effect May 20.
