Bryanna Baker and Cid Lopez on why medical malpractice claims shouldn't be blamed for doctor shortage in New MexicoThis week on Voices of Taos join assistant editor Geoffrey Plant as he talks with Bryanna Baker, a victim of medical malpractice, and Cid Lopez, Baker's lawyer and a specialist in malpractice claims. During the interview, Baker shares her story of being pregnant and having a heart attack when she was 24 years old in 2006. Sadly she was misdiagnosed at two medical facilities in Northern New Mexico before she received adequate care. By the time doctors figured out what was wrong, she had suffered irreparable damage to her heart and lost her pregnancy. She filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and won, but Baker said her reward, which was capped under state statute at the time and significantly less than her $9.5 million verdict, is not adequate compensation. Lopez helped advocate for the cap to be raised in 2021, which has been a relief to victims of medical malpractice in the state. But medical providers, hospitals and public interest groups blame the state's shortage of physicians in part on the high cost of malpractice insurance in New Mexico, which ranks second in the nation for the number of malpractice lawsuits and first among states for insurance loss rates, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. Lopez says that other issues should be blamed for this shortage, such as the gross receipt tax on medical services and the low reimbursement for medicare.
