Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote

Former Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima, in declaring his candidacy for governor, did something no other Democrat has been willing to do: he challenged his fellow Democratic candidates to refuse campaign funding from trial lawyers.

Miyagishima stated correctly that New Mexico’s malpractice laws and the spike in litigation and insurance premiums in recent years is driving doctors from the state.

“We are the only state that is losing doctors,” he told the Albuquerque Journal, referring to data from the New Mexico Medical Society, which reported that we lost 248 doctors across the state from 2019 to 2024 while neighboring states added doctors.

Thanks to Democrats and their benefactor, the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, changes in malpractice law since 2021 multiplied malpractice lawsuits and spiked court awards and settlement costs.

I’ve previously written about how Dems torpedoed the malpractice reform bill in this year’s legislative session. There’s more.

Think New Mexico had a package of bills to address our healthcare shortages. The bipartisan think tank has a long track record of advancing useful legislation, but this time David faced Goliath. The trial lawyers have deep pockets and matching clout.

One of the most important bills was the bipartisan HB 243 by Rep. Marian Matthews, a moderate Democrat from Albuquerque, and House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena. It would have allowed New Mexico to join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, an agreement among states to recognize each others’ professional licenses. Forty-three other states have joined.

“It’s the easiest way to have a substantial increase in doctors, Matthews said. “It could provide expertise that’s not even available in New Mexico.”

Companion bills would have done the same for other healthcare professions.

HB 243 passed the House unanimously and then sat in the Senate Judiciary Committee more than a week before being heard. Matthews and Armstrong were pleased that Rick Masters, the compact’s general counsel, came to New Mexico to present before the committee. “They went out of their way to work with us.”

Matthews, herself an attorney, was astounded by what happened next. Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, spent hours reading every line and paragraph the Senate Judiciary committee wanted stricken. Duhigg made dozens of amendments that transformed the bill.

“We told them if they insist on changing the bill it would be unacceptable to the compact. They did it anyway. It was ugly,” Matthews said.

It should be noted that the law firm of committee Chairman Joseph Cervantes, D- Las Cruces, sues doctors. So does Duhigg’s lawfirm.

The gutted HB 243 died on the Senate calendar. The other compact bills also died.

Why? Because the trial lawyers object to a provision in the compacts that prevents them from suing the interstate compact commissions, which oversee the compacts. “There is no good reason to sue them, but the lawyers object to the idea of shielding anyone from potential lawsuits,” said Fred Nathan, of Think New Mexico.

In the aftermath, Republicans called out Dems for tanking these bills, and the governor agreed with them.

“People die when they can’t get access to healthcare,” she said. She complained that her public safety bills died in the same committees that defeated the healthcare bills, and she chastised the trial lawyers by name.

“Just look at the number of malpractice cases brought in New Mexico,” she said. “Look at the number of law firms coming from out of state to prosecute cases here.”

Duhigg sent her constituents a long letter bragging about her accomplishments during the session but didn’t mention her role in depriving them of doctors.

Meanwhile, I keep hearing from doctors. A surgeon describes colleagues planning to retire early or leave the state. “All of this is lawsuit driven,” she writes. “These are good surgeons! They are kind, thoughtful, skilled. They didn’t go into surgery for money; there are so many easier ways to make money.

“Ours is a stressful field at baseline. Complications hurt us and haunt us, but they are a reality of practicing surgery. As much as we would love to have perfect outcomes, as hard as we work for it, we know that complications will happen. In New Mexico, we are punished for situations we can’t control. And as the number of doctors declines, we get busier and busier, patients have less primary care, and we face uncontrollable emergency situations. It is truly a vicious cycle.”

Candidate Miyagishima worries his name might be an obstacle. If he champions healthcare providers and stands up to the trial lawyers, everybody will know his name.

Sherry Robinson is a longtime New Mexico reporter and editor. She has worked in Grants, Gallup, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Business Weekly and Albuquerque Tribune. She is the author of four books. Her columns won first place in 2024 from New Mexico Press Women.