By MERILEE DANNEMANN
Triple Spaced Again
© 2026 by Merilee Dannemann
Like most New Mexicans, I am deeply relieved that our medical malpractice law has been changed to get rid of unlimited punitive damages, the part of the law that has been scaring the heck out of our doctors and leading too many of them to leave the state.
I have already seen the first attack on the new version of the law – an article by a trial lawyer implying that injured patients won’t receive the compensation they deserve and greedy corporations will have no incentive for safety. Let’s clear this up.
The news coverage has focused on the punitive damages problem but, based on comments I have seen, too many readers don’t know what else malpractice insurance provides to injured patients. They may think the change in the law has created unfair limits on what patients could receive. That is not correct. There are limits, but the limits are within reason.
Regarding the safety concern, I don’t think the threat of huge lawsuits is the best way to support safety, and it may even be detrimental as it leads doctors to so-called defensive medicine, avoiding risks and perhaps refusing to treat patients with complicated conditions.
There are other ways to improve standards of practice based on improvement and cooperation rather than fear. New Mexico can now look at how to implement those standards.
The new law defines a malpractice claim as including “any cause of action arising in this state against a health care provider for medical treatment, lack of medical treatment or other claimed departure from accepted standards of health care that proximately results in injury to the patient … “ In other words, it includes mistakes, both large and small.
There are three categories of compensation to persons injured by medical malpractice. A seriously injured person might receive millions of dollars in money or medical care.
First is the category the statute calls “past and future medical care and related benefits.”
That is exactly what it looks like – costs related to the medical needs of the patient created by the medical error or omission. The amount of money for this category is unlimited. Look at that word again: unlimited. It is whatever the patient needs or will need in the future, as estimated through the legal process, for the rest of the patient’s life if necessary.
Second is the category that appears to be deliberately nameless. The statute uses the term “the aggregate dollar amount recoverable” and does not define the basis for the recovery. We can guess that payment in this category will be determined for each individual case by either a negotiation or a jury.
Awards in this category are capped, with different maximums for different classes of health care providers. At the low end, the maximum for independent providers is $750,000 per occurrence, with any amount more than $250,000 to be paid not by the provider but by the state’s Patient Compensation Fund.
The third category is punitive damages – the subject of the controversy that led to this change in the law.
As the Governor’s press release describes this section, “The bill creates tiered, inflation-adjusted caps on punitive damages — $1 million for independent providers, $6 million for locally owned hospitals, and $15 million for large systems — and raises the evidentiary standard to ‘clear and convincing,’ requiring judicial review before punitive damage claims can proceed.”
Punitive damages are supposed to be levied as punishment, only in cases of egregious irresponsibility. The new language sets that standard.
There’s much more complexity to this law but I’ve tried to outline the basics.
Under this version, there’s less incentive for lawyers to file questionable or frivolous malpractice cases. It’s a good step in increasing access to health care for the rest of us – the New Mexicans who have been waiting too long to see a doctor.
Merilee Dannemann’s columns are posted at www.triplespacedagain.com. Comments are invited through the website.