Give state time to fix malpractice law

I WAS a member of the Class of 1970 from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and served for eight years on the N.M. Board of Medicine, which licenses all doctors in New Mexico.

I am saddened by the current state of affairs where malpractice insurance companies are leaving the state as of Dec. 31. That will leave many private doctors unable to get insurance and will, sadly, force them also to leave the state. This will affect every city, village and rural area in the state. The current crisis involves clinics and outpatient operative practices, but it has a ripple effect for all private practices in the state. As the insurance companies leave due to the new law regarding those larger health care facilities, they will leave all the other small private practices unable to get insurance at any cost. Insurance for doctors will simply not be available at any price.

A substitute bill was introduced a week ago, but it failed. It would have delayed implementation of the current bill, which was passed two years ago, for two more years while a blue-ribbon committee would meet with local and national experts to completely rewrite the malpractice laws for New Mexico. Then, as a result, patients would be adequately covered, while doctors could stay. …

Please call your senator or representative and ask them to bring Senate Bill 296 off the table and pass it before the end of the week. Otherwise, a costly special session of the Legislature will need to be called by the governor as doctors make plans to move.

DR. STEVE KOMADINA N.M. senator 2001-2008