Opinion: Medical malpractice crisis pushing rural healthcare to brink of collapse in NM

New Mexico is on the verge of a healthcare access disaster -- being caused by a medical malpractice insurance system that is driving out physicians, punishing hospitals, severely restricting care and, ultimately, putting patients at risk. The Legislature must act decisively in 2026 to address it.

Tort law was intended to compensate patients who were harmed — not to create a litigation industry. Yet New Mexico has become a magnet for malpractice lawsuits. Out-of-state attorneys are flooding in and buying the billboards lining our highways. The number of claims has nearly tripled per capita compared to other states.

This is not justice. This is exploitation.

Very few insurers still write medical malpractice insurance policies in New Mexico and premiums have exploded for all hospitals. Roosevelt General Hospital is covered under the Tort Claims Act — with a $750,000 cap and no punitive damages — yet our premiums continue to skyrocket because the entire statewide system is destabilized and untenable.

Our hospital’s premiums rose from $257,000 in 2019 to $1.4 million in 2025.

Rural hospitals cannot survive this trajectory. When a rural hospital closes, an entire region loses access to care.

Since the 2021 changes to the Medical Malpractice Act raised caps to $6 million and left punitive damages uncapped with the lowest burden of proof, New Mexico has become known nationally as a “brutal venue” for practicing medicine.

The consequences are devastating:

• New Mexico lost 248 physicians from 2019–2024 — an 8.1% decline. Ours is the only state in the Southwest to decline in physicians

• Neighboring states of Texas and Arizona each grew by over 14%

• RGH has lost physician candidates in orthopedics, urology, cardiology, emergency medicine, and primary care because doctors believe it is too risky to practice here

• RGH also had an entire group of radiologists cease to read medical images because their new radiologists were unwilling to practice in New Mexico.

When physicians avoid our state, patients lose access. This is the new reality in New Mexico — it is unacceptable and unsustainable.

This is a bi-partisan issue, and New Mexico cannot wait another year. To protect access to care and prevent the collapse of rural hospitals, lawmakers must pass the following reforms:

1. Address punitive damages in medical malpractice cases.

Healthcare providers should not face limitless financial exposure for unintended clinical outcomes, especially in rural communities where resources and specialists are limited.

Punitive damages must require proof of intentional misconduct, malice, or fraud — not simple negligence or poor outcomes. This is standard in many states but absent in New Mexico.

2. Restore a balanced, evidence-based liability climate that deters frivolous lawsuits.

Stronger standards of evidence and expert testimony requirements would drastically reduce the “shotgun” filing practices currently plaguing hospitals and physicians.

3. Attract insurance carriers back to New Mexico.

Reasonable caps and clear liability standards are essential to restoring competition and stabilizing premiums.

This is no longer a theoretical policy debate. It is a crisis unfolding in real time. Rural hospitals like RGH — which serve as lifelines for thousands of New Mexicans — cannot endure another cycle of premium hikes, lawsuit surges, and physician departures.

If the Legislature fails to act this year, New Mexico’s healthcare system will continue to unravel — and it will be patients who pay the ultimate price.

Kaye Green is chief executive officer at Roosevelt General Hospital in Portales. Contact her:

kgreen@myrgh.org