BY FRED NATHAN, JR.
Executive Director
Think New Mexico

I am writing to respond to the recent letter to the editor https://losalamosreporter.com/2026/01/09/lte-lets-fix-medicine/ by Kathleene Parker, who wrote that: “While I too believe that major tort reform against New Mexico’s growth industry of liability lawyers is needed,” she opposes Representative Christine Chandler’s efforts to reform the state’s medical malpractice law.

We commend Rep. Chandler for being one of the few legislators who has stepped forward to address this critical cause of the state’s doctor shortage by listening to all the stakeholders and developing a substantive reform bill that she plans to introduce this session. 

Doctors consistently tell us that the high cost of medical malpractice premiums (about twice the national average) and the high risk of being sued over unavoidable bad outcomes make New Mexico a less attractive place to practice medicine than other states.   

Not surprisingly, Rep. Chandler is already facing attacks from trial lawyers and their defenders, who prefer the status quo. New Mexicans who are struggling to access health care should stand with Rep. Chandler and urge their state senator and representative to support her legislation.