Rep. Marian Matthews, a champion of medical malpractice reform and healthcare compacts, has been a thorn in the side of trial lawyers. So they got rid of her in the Democratic primary.
Lisa Curtis, queen of trial lawyers, is running against Republican Rep. Nicole Chavez, who defended malpractice reform this year.
And governor-hopeful Deb Haaland parrots trial-lawyer talking points in any discussion of healthcare and on her website. Trial lawyers have generously padded her election war chest.
Voters need to understand that the gains we made this year for doctors and healthcare access could stall in the coming election.
To refresh your memory: In 2021, when hospitals were slammed by the pandemic, Rep. Daymon Ely, a former president of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, rewrote the Medical Malpractice Act without any input from doctors. Legislators jacked up caps on malpractice liability and didn’t cap punitive damages, which aren’t covered by malpractice insurance.
The new law hit New Mexico in a tsunami of lawsuits, eye-popping payouts and spiraling malpractice premiums. The bonanza for trial lawyers sparked an exodus of doctors.
Two years ago, Think New Mexico, a nonpartisan think tank, rolled out a plan. Two key steps were reforming the state’s medical malpractice act and passing medical licensure compacts, which would allow New Mexico to recognize other states’ professional licenses. It’s the easiest way to increase doctors and other healthcare professionals.
But depriving trial lawyers of their two-legged ATMs is like taking a bone from a dog. They and their legislative allies angrily point fingers at corporation-owned hospitals and insurance companies as the root of evil.
In 2025 bipartisan malpractice reform and compact bills died in Senate committees controlled by trial lawyers or legislators bankrolled by trial lawyers, Democrats all. State senators aren’t up for re-election this year, so I won’t dwell on this dismal episode except to note that Rep. Marian Matthews, a moderate Democrat from Albuquerque, co-sponsored a physician-compact bill. It passed the House unanimously. Then Matthews watched in shock as the Senate Judiciary Committee made dozens of amendments until the bill was unacceptable to the compact.
When that bill died, so did similar bills for psychologists, dentists, physical therapists and other medical professionals.
Matthews later warned House Speaker Javier Martinez, “If we don’t fix this problem we will have a Republican governor.”
In 2026 legislators passed a medical malpractice reform bill and two compact bills (eight others died in the Senate, including three carried by Matthews).
Matthews narrowly lost her primary to political rookie Abby Foster, who waged a condescending campaign of disinformation funded by the trial lawyers. Matthews has endorsed Republican Jahnelle Garcia, a nurse practitioner, even though Garcia has been challenged about whether she lives in the district.
Another Albuquerque Republican candidate, Rep. Nicole Chavez, has also had an address problem and fibbed about whether she had a degree, but she sponsored four compact bills this year and defended malpractice reform in committee when Democrats were trying to kill it. Her opponent is Lisa Curtis, who once said she’d tried more malpractice cases here than anyone. Curtis testified against the reform bill but told Santa Fe New Mexican columnist Milan Simonich that the bill settled all conflict over medical malpractice. If you believe that I have a bridge over the Pecos I’d like to sell you.
Finally, let’s remember another voice we’re about to lose. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has maintained steady pressure for reform and has not minced words.
“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.
“I worry there are so many trial lawyer leaders in the Senate that it gets caught there. I understand that they will tell you their perspective is patient safety, but if you have no doctors here and nobody can get in, I don’t see how you make the argument that you’re leaning in to patient safety.”
Republican candidate Gregg Hull is clear on the malpractice issue and states, correctly, that this year’s bills were a good beginning.
Democrat Deb Haaland would “track” the medical malpractice reform as if it’s suspicious. She rails against private-equity and corporate-owned clinics and hospitals. And yet, in many areas that’s all there is. How does it serve the public to make it more expensive for them to operate?
From a donor list I received I see that Lisa Curtis, her associates and her law firm have supported Haaland with nearly $100,000. That doesn’t count other trial lawyers on the list.
These are not the only troubling races in this election cycle in terms of medical malpractice reform. Next week I’ll return with a Hall of Fame and a Hall of Shame.
So if we lose more champions of reform, how do we safeguard the future?
In March Marian Matthews said: “We were able to get it done because of public pressure. They were blowing up our inboxes. People were so pissed about this.”
Stay angry.
