Malpractice Law

New Mexico medical malpractice law presents its own unique pocket of law.  Medical malpractice cases should never be confused with typical personal injury cases, and mistakenly believed to be governed by the same set of laws.  Although there are some similarities, medical malpractice cases require different elements of proof and different standards of negligence.  Unlike other negligence cases involving personal injury or wrongful death, successful New Mexico medical malpractice cases require showing that the medical provider’s conduct fell below recognized standards or care.  A standard of care is a typical level of care, experience, and knowledge that any reasonable medical provider possesses while performing a particular act.

New Mexico medical malpractice cases must also follow the rules and laws laid out in the New Mexico Medical Malpractice Act. The New Mexico Medical Malpractice Act imposes dozens if not hundreds of rules and standards that apply to nearly every New Mexico medical malpractice case.

Finally, New Mexico medical malpractice law can even have its own unique element of damages.  Loss of chance is a specific damage that is often used in Medical Malpractice  cases to address situations in which a medical provider’s malpractice resulted in a patient’s failure to recover from conditions that had the provider not performed malpractice would result in a higher likelihood of recovery.