02/17/2026
Committee Takes No Action — Yet — On New Mexico Medical Malpractice Reform
By MARGARET O’HARA
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Will New Mexico lawmakers make major changes to the state’s Medical Malpractice Act in the final days of this year’s legislative session? The jury’s still out.
More accurately, the Senate Judiciary Committee is still out.
After three hours of discussion Monday — and more than a dozen proposed amendments — the panel halted debate on House Bill 99, a proposal supported by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that would limit the amount jurors can award in punitive damages in malpractice cases.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up the bill again Tuesday morning, according to discussion Monday.
The committee chair, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat and a personal injury attorney whose firm represents clients with malpractice cases, argued time may be running too short to make such major changes to medical malpractice law.
“This is not the way to run a government. ... We’re going to be rushing this. We’re going to be doing it fast,” Cervantes said.
He said he supported a special session on medical malpractice reform — something the governor has said is a possibility if lawmakers fail to make meaningful change during this year’s legislative session.
However, Rep. Christine Chandler, the Los Alamos Democrat who sponsored HB 99, argued lawmakers have a responsibility to listen to constituents now as they clamor for action on medical malpractice.
“Our constituents ... are demanding that we do something, and I’m not here to suggest to you that this is the only thing that we need to do,” Chandler told the committee.
She continued, “We need to be looking at a number of items — loan repayment programs, housing support, potentially some tax changes. There are all kinds of things that we could be doing, but that does not excuse our unwillingness to act on medical malpractice.”
Medical malpractice has turned into one of the major issues before lawmakers this year. Supporters argue punitive damage caps are a crucial step in helping solve New Mexico’s severe shortage of doctors by limiting both the risk doctors face to practice in the state and the cost of their malpractice insurance.
Opponents have argued changes to the law would leave victims with fewer avenues to justice without meaningfully improving the provider supply.
Punitive damages — which are intended to punish providers for wrongdoing and aren’t subject to any caps under state law — are a point of particular focus.
Under HB 99, punitive damages would be limited to around $900,000 for independent doctors, $1 million for independent outpatient clinics and $6 million for locally owned and operated hospitals — the same caps set for most compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases.
The most recent version of the bill — which overwhelmingly passed the House on Saturday — would create a higher tier for claims against large hospitals and hospital-controlled outpatient facilities, capping punitive damages at two and a half times the limits the bill establishes for local hospitals.
HB 99 also would raise the standard of proof required for awarding punitive damages and make other policy changes.
Chandler framed HB 99 as a “fair compromise” between conflicting interests — though the bill will likely change as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers amendments.
