Rio Rancho retiree sounds off on health care at GOP task force hearing

BERNALILLO — A Rio Rancho retiree who is selling his house due to the difficulty of finding a doctor urged New Mexico Senate Republicans to make reforms during a task force meeting Monday.

Pat Jilek, 56, a former workforce safety consultant, asked the panel of five lawmakers to place “reasonable limits” on medical malpractice awards, which are necessary if the state wants to attract and retain physicians as well as patients.

“Without reform, we’re going to continue to see people and doctors alike leaving the state,” Jilek said.

He told task force members that he “does not envy” the charge that is before them. In response, task force members expressed sympathy for Jilek’s story and urged him not to leave the state.

Jilek’s remarks marked the latest in the political saga to reform medical malpractice laws, which health care stakeholders said Monday is the leading cause of why New Mexico has lost almost 250 doctors over the last five years.

“This is more than just an inconvenience. It’s a crisis that prevents physicians from staying,” said Jilek, who, along with his 58-year-old wife, flew to Arizona for primary medical care while the couple is on a University of New Mexico wait list.

Despite a special session beginning Oct. 1 without medical malpractice on the agenda, Republicans are hopeful they can use the 2026 legislative session to introduce bills to create punitive damage caps in medical malpractice lawsuits, change the legal standard for awarding damages, and change the legal definition of “occurrences” for patients to sue a health care provider.

“It’s time we change things in New Mexico,” said Sen. Craig Brandt, the task force’s chairman, during the meeting. “It’s time we make it where our doctors can stay here so that when we get sick, or our family gets sick, or loved ones get sick, they can be treated here and not have to be flown to another state to survive.”

In addition to Jilek, the task force members — Senate Republican Whip Pat Woods-Broadview, Sens. Nicole Tobiassen-Albuquerque, Ant Thornton-Sandia Park, and Brandt and Jay Block of Rio Rancho — heard from doctors, hospital officials, policy experts and New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Gina DeBlassie.

DeBlassie told the task force that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will form work groups on medical malpractice shortly after the special session. Those efforts will follow the summit the governor had at her residence in Santa Fe on Sept. 12, DeBlassie noted.

Policy advocate Carrie Robin Brunder told the task force she is pleased Lujan Grisham decided to “lean in” to medical malpractice reform and DeBlassie’s presence is “a really good sign that the tide is turning.”

“The beauty of our government is we don’t have to live with our mistakes; we can fix them,” Brunder said. “We look forward to working with you all as we embark on the challenge.”

The task force also heard from Fred Nathan, executive director of Think New Mexico. Nathan, a former attorney who founded his think tank in 1999, said comprehensive medical malpractice reform could include capping attorneys’ fees, returning to the pay-as-you-go system for the patients’ compensation fund, and raising the standards for, as well as capping, punitive damages.

Following Nathan’s and Brunder’s remarks, Brandt closed the meeting by saying he was not sure if medical malpractice reform could happen given that Majority Floor Leader Peter Wirth and the chairs of both judiciary committees, all Democrats, are attorneys.

“We could have 110 people co-sponsor the bill — it ain’t going nowhere in those two committees, because they’re going to block it every single time,” Brandt said. “So, until their constituents get mad enough ... to vote them out of office, it’s not going to change.”

Jilek, a Republican, said that the task force’s meeting was “a wonderful example” of a forum to amplify voices like his.

The more people talk about medical malpractice reform, he said, “the more pressure can be put on decision makers” to act on it.

“It’s going to take a complex solution and a lot of people working together,” said Jilek.