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SB175 • 2026

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Healthcare
Did Not Pass

The latest official action shows that this bill did not move forward in that session.

Sponsor
Senator Craig W. Brandt, Senator Steve D. Lanier, Senator Nicole Tobiassen, Senator Rex Wilson, Senator Pat Woods
Last action
Official status
[5] SCC/SHPAC/SJC-SCC API.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES

What This Bill Does

  • MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-28 New Mexico Legislature

    Sent to SCC - Referrals: SCC/SHPAC/SJC

  2. New Mexico Legislature

    Action Postponed Indefinitely

Official Summary Text

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PUNITIVE DAMAGES

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SB0175

SENATE BILL 175

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Craig W. Brandt
and
Nicole Tobiassen
and
Rex Wilson

AN ACT

RELATING TO JUDGMENTS; PROHIBITING PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARDS IN
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1.
Section 41-5-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992,
Chapter 33, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:

"41-5-7. MEDICAL EXPENSES [
AND PUNITIVE DAMAGES
].--

A. Awards of past and future medical care and
related benefits shall not be subject to the limitations of
recovery imposed in Section 41-5-6 NMSA 1978.

B. The health care provider shall be liable for all
medical care and related benefit payments until the total
payments made by or on behalf of it for monetary damages and
medical care and related benefits combined equals the health
care provider's personal liability limit as provided in
Subsection I of Section 41-5-6 NMSA 1978, after which the
payments shall be made by the fund.

C. Beginning January 1, 2027, any amounts due from
a judgment or settlement against a hospital or
an
outpatient
health care facility shall not be paid from the fund if the
injury or death occurred after December 31, 2026.

D. This section shall not be construed to prevent a
patient and a health care provider from entering into a
settlement agreement whereby medical care and related benefits
shall be provided for a limited period of time only or to a
limited degree.

[
E. A judgment of punitive damages against a health
care provider shall be the personal liability of the health
care provider. Punitive damages shall not be paid from the
fund or from the proceeds of the health care provider's
insurance contract unless the contract expressly provides
coverage. Nothing in Section 41-5-6 NMSA 1978 precludes the
award of punitive damages to a patient. Nothing in this
subsection authorizes the imposition of liability for punitive
damages where that imposition would not be otherwise authorized
by law.
]"

SECTION 2.
A new section of the Medical Malpractice Act
is enacted to read:

"[
NEW MATERIAL
] PUNITIVE DAMAGES PROHIBITED.--Punitive
damages or any other exemplary damages shall not be awarded in
a malpractice claim."

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