New Mexico neurosurgeon loses license in the wake of multiple lawsuits – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
Albuquerque neurosurgeon Mark Erasmus has lost his license to practice medicine in New Mexico following $19 million in malpractice payouts.
The Albuquerque Journal reports a district judge in December upheld an earlier conclusion by the New Mexico Medical Board that Erasmus exhibited “manifest incapacity or incompetence” that would make him unfit to continue practicing medicine.
The board said there was credible evidence that since 2001, insurance companies have settled 26 malpractice claims involving Erasmus. Several lawsuits fault Lovelace Medical Center for permitting Erasmus to work as a neurosurgeon considering his history of such payouts.
Currently, Erasmus is fighting four lawsuits where former patients accuse him of medical negligence. Three of the four are now wheelchair users or are quadriplegic.
Erasmus’ attorney said these payouts were “unsubstantiated” and that the board’s decision found his client unfit to practice as a neurosurgeon, but not unfit to practice medicine generally. The Journal reports it’s rare for the board to revoke a license and even more unusual to cite malpractice settlements as the reason.
According to his attorney Erasmus would like to teach, do insurance reviews, and independent medical exams. Erasmus intends to appeal the decision.
Alcon dies of liver cancer - By Nicole Maxwell, New Mexico Political Report
Recently retired state Rep. Eliseo “Lee” Alcon, D-Milan, died Monday following a battle with liver cancer, he was 74 and had been on hospice care.
“We are tremendously saddened by the loss of our esteemed colleague and dear friend Eliseo,” the House Democrats said in a press release. “During his 16 years in the House, Rep. Alcon was a tireless champion for his western New Mexico community and our service men and women. We deeply appreciated the warmth, kindness, good humor, and dedication he brought to the Roundhouse.”
Alcon was a Vietnam Veteran who received a Bronze Star for his service as a combat medic. He was elected to the House in 2009.
“Rep. Alcon’s legacy will live on through the historic victories he achieved for veterans and their families, New Mexico workers, and our environment,” House Democrats’ statement continued. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, especially his beloved wife Darlene and their children, grandchildren, and great grandson.”
After Alcon stepped down from his seat, Cibola and McKinley counties both nominated outgoing Democratic Rep. Harry Garcia as his replacement. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has since questioned Garcia’s residency and eligibility to take over from Alcon and subsequently held off on appointing Garcia. The seat is still vacant with about a week until the legislative session starts.
LANL talks expansion with new environmental impact statement– Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
The National Nuclear Security Administration is looking to update the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and Los Alamos National Laboratory will play a big part.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the agency released its draft sitewide environmental impact statement on Friday. It’s the first since 2008 and it notes that since then, the lab’s budget has doubled and hundreds of new employees have been added.
The report offers three visions for the lab’s future: No action, modernization, or expansion, and lists the environmental impacts of each.
The plan addresses major projects like the controversial 14-mile power line through the Caja del Rio, cleanup of a hexavalent chromium plume, beefing up plutonium pit production, and expanding operations for wildfire mitigation.
Whichever route LANL takes, there will be growth and that includes increased demands for water and energy.
Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico says the process is “rigged” given that the plan to restart pit production was approved before a site-wide environmental impact statement was drafted that would weigh possible impacts.
Both modernizing and expanding would increase LANL’s physical footprint. LANL officials say that about half of their buildings are in “poor or very poor condition” leaving them inefficient and in need of upkeep and reinvestment.
Las Cruces hospital wins spot on dubious award list for alleged denials of care – KUNM News
Las Cruces Memorial Medical Center was named to a top 10 list that highlights the worst examples of profiteering and dysfunction in health care.
The annual Shkreli Awards by the Lown Institute are named for Martin Shkreli, known as the “pharma bro” for his move as a CEO to hike the cost of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 a pill. He was convicted of lying to investors and cheating them out of millions of dollars.
NBC News reported last July that 13 cancer patients said they faced denials of care at Memorial Medical Center or demands for upfront payments. The hospital is owned by Lifepoint Health, backed by private equity firm Apollo Global Management.
After the NBC News report, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez launched an investigation into Memorial following the allegations. In August, the hospital’s CEO retired. The Las Cruces Bulletin reported in November that officials with Memorial have denied the allegations but said they are cooperating with the investigation.
The hospital leases its land from the city of Las Cruces and Doña Ana County, according to New Mexico Political report. The reported lack of care has led to reviews by both the city and the county and the city announced in August last year that the hospital had breached its contract. The hospital is required to provide care to indigent patients, according to the city’s website.
A request for comment by NM Political Report from both the hospital and from the Mayor of Las Cruces, Eric Enriquez, were not returned.
Some US states not running on Dunkin' doughnuts due to temporary supply shortage — Margery A. Beck, Associated Press
Dunkin' dropped the "Donuts" from its brand name years ago. Now — at least across Nebraska, New Mexico and some other states — it doesn't have doughnuts on the shelves either.
Dunkin' stores in Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island in Nebraska all had no doughnuts in their cases Thursday and Friday and put up signs on their doors and drive-thru kiosks informing customers that the pastries were unavailable "due to a manufacturing error." Some locations did offer "Munchkins," or doughnut holes, on Friday.
Tyler Raikar, of Omaha, stopped by a Dunkin' in west Omaha early Friday after an overnight shift as a phlebotomist, seeking coffee and a chocolate cake doughnut.
"What? No doughnuts!" she exclaimed when told the location had none. "That's tragic!"
The trip wasn't a total loss, she said, as she was more interested in the coffee. Still, she was a little disappointed that she couldn't get a doughnut.
"Hopefully they have them soon," she said.
Throughout Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the surrounding suburbs, store after store confirmed there's a doughnut drought. Some employees chalked it up to a supply chain issue and others said simply that delivery trucks had been arriving without the cargo that the chain is most famous for. Employees said they hoped stocks would be replenished by next week.
A manager at the west Omaha Dunkin' location said Friday that she could not give more information on the cause of the shortage, citing orders from Dunkin's corporate headquarters. The manager, who did not give her name, said the shortage was a national problem.
But checks of locations in other regions, including St. Joseph, Missouri, and Boston — where Dunkin' has a near cult-like following — found no shortage of the sweet treats.
Dunkin' is one of the world's largest coffee and doughnut brands, with more than 13,200 restaurants. The company, which was founded in Massachusetts in 1950, was purchased for $11.3 billion in 2020 by Atlanta private equity firm Inspire Brands, which also owns Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Jack D'Amato, a spokesperson for Inspire Brands, said there was an issue with doughnuts from a single supplier that impacted stores in Nebraska and some other states, although he did not name the other states. About 4% of Dunkin's U.S. stores were impacted, he said. Dunkin' has more than 9,500 stores nationwide.
D'Amato said the company was still looking into what the issue was and exactly how many stores were affected. But he said the company has already begun restocking some affected stores.
Previously known as Dunkin' Donuts, the company announced in 2018 that it was dropping "Donuts" from its name as part of a rebranding effort to increase focus on its coffee and other drinks, which made up of a majority of its sales.
Phone and email messages to Bryce Bares, who owns several Dunkin' franchises in Nebraska, were not immediately returned.
Bares told the Omaha World-Herald that some Dunkin' stores received products from suppliers that were not up to standard and that he would not serve them to customers. He told the newspaper that the supply partners had corrected the problem and that his Nebraska locations should be offering doughnuts again soon.
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AP writers Dee-Ann Durbin, in Detroit; Michael Casey, in Boston; and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
NM House Dems: Behavioral health, public safety priorities in upcoming session — Julia Goldberg, Source New Mexico
New Mexico House leaders will push for $200 million toward “rebuilding” the state’s behavioral health system and a new children’s advocate office for the Children’s Youth and Families Department, alongside stiffer penalties for a variety of criminal activity in the upcoming 60-day session kicking off Jan. 21.
Speaker of the House Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) told reporters during a Friday afternoon news conference in Albuquerque he anticipated behavioral health and public safety bills “will move expeditiously” in the first 30 days.
The lawmakers’ preview comes as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham continues holding public safety town halls across the state, and follows her failed attempt last year to pass public safety bills during a special session.
Martínez said “dialogue has been ongoing” since the end of the special session last July, both with the governor’s office, as well as “with public defenders, district attorneys, law enforcement and civil rights organizations. That’s exactly the point we were making prior to the special session being called,” Martínez said. “This is the type of effort that will require an all-hands-on-deck approach.” While he expects a variety of public safety proposals and it remains to be seen what the final form of a compromise would look like, “I’m hopeful, and I fully expect that compromise can be reached,” not only on this issue, but on a “variety of other issues.”
The governor’s office provided a statement to Source that said Lujan Grisham “appreciates House Democrats’ focus on shared priorities like improving public safety, behavioral health, and the well-being of children and families. We look forward to reviewing actual pieces of legislation proposed by the House in these areas, including public safety, a top priority for this administration. We will continue to pursue changes to the state’s criminal competency laws to ensure that individuals cycling in and out of courthouses are compelled to get the treatment they need rather than repeatedly released back to the streets. We will continue to push for higher penalties for convicted felons in possession of a firearm. We will continue to fight for historic funding for homelessness and behavioral health to build a system for our friends and families who need it most.”
Specific bills will include $200 million toward “rebuilding” the state’s behavioral health system, Majority Floor Leader Reena Szczepanski (D-Santa Fe) said, noting that the system “is not meeting the demand for treatment services, especially for New Mexicans who want services. When people make the difficult decision to get help, they face too many barriers, too many wrong doors and too long of a wait. No one should have to make 10 calls to find an appointment for themselves or for a loved one, but that’s what’s happening now when someone enters care.” Residents, she noted, “need a behavioral health system that follows up, that helps patients make the connections to additional care or services they need so that they can fully heal. And we need a behavioral health system that doesn’t let people fall through the cracks.”
House Democrats say they also will push for a new “office of the child advocate” within the state Department of Justice for independent oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department, which Martínez characterized as a “broken agency,” adding: “We will bring and demand greater accountability, transparency and oversight from this critically important agency.” Comparable attempts to create oversight of CYFD have failed in recent sessions.
A statement provided by Attorney General Raúl Torrez’s Department of Justice says, “We are happy to review any proposal that supports the interests of children in New Mexico.”
On the public safety front, Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee and the Legislature’s interim Courts, Corrections, and Criminal Justice Committee, said legislators intend to bring bills that will address gun violence; DWI and “reckless drivers who endanger New Mexicans on our streets.” In addition, she said, lawmakers will seek to increase penalties for human and fentanyl traffickers, while seeking to increase services from victims of the former and those who need substance abuse treatment.
“We’re entering the session with a focus on our shared values, and we know there is nothing more fundamental to the well being of families and communities than public safety, “ Chandler said. “It doesn’t start or end with this legislative session.”
Chandler said lawmakers also would also introduce “a thoroughly vetted competency bill.”
The legislators presented their agenda at Manuel’s Food Market in the Albuquerque neighborhood Martineztown, a more than 100-year-old family grocery store that has been closed for the last few years, but is working toward reopening.
“I haven’t met a single person who hasn’t been impacted by rising costs of housing, health care and basic necessities,” Dayan Hochman–Vigil (D-Albuquerque) said, noting that “here in New Mexico, we have a long history of divestment in our communities, including the one where we stand today.” At the same time, she said, “our state is abundant in culture, beauty and natural resources, and our people are hardworking and resilient, like our hosts today… We intend to build on that legacy this session with the family and worker-centered agenda.”
That agenda will include “significant investments to make housing and health care more affordable and more accessible; relieving the pressures of inflation by cutting taxes for middle income New Mexicans”; and “investments in communities like Martineztown.”
This story was updated following publication with comments from the offices of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Raúl Torrez.
Advocates want New Mexico to track climate change’s impact on public health — Danielle Prokop, Source New Mexico
Health care advocates and officials will renew efforts to track harm to New Mexicans’ health from climate disasters in the forthcoming legislative session.
Healthy Climate New Mexico, a nonprofit collective of health care professionals concerned about climate change, and nine other groups back two proposals to improve preparedness and adaptation to extreme weather driven by human-caused climate change.
The first would beef up a climate health program at New Mexico Department of Health to track health impacts from heat, wildfire smoke, drought, flooding, dust and severe storms. The second is a proposal to offer grant funds for local and tribal governments to better respond to weather disasters.
“Our bills are focused on adaptation and resilience, preparedness and collecting data, which is essential in really knowing who’s at highest risk and where the solutions need to be applied, said Shelley Mann-Lev, the nonprofit’s executive director, who has decades of public health experience in New Mexico.
Both require state funds. First, there’s $1.1 million for a climate health program to fund additional staff for the Department of Health; implement more warning systems; and increase communication between the department, the public and other state agencies.
The request for the Extreme Weather Resilience Fund would be $12 million. Advocates have said they’ll introduce two bills with sponsors in both the House and Senate, but neither was filed as of Friday, Jan. 10.
This would be the third time similar proposals have been brought before lawmakers, and Mann-Lev said there’s been increased support from both the governor’s office and members of the legislature.
A spokesperson from the New Mexico Department of Health declined to comment, saying it’s policy to not speak about legislation proposed by outside groups. A spokesperson from the governor’s office declined to comment since the bills have not been formally introduced.
Sen. Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos), who plans to sponsor the Senate legislation, and has introduced it before, said there seems to be more momentum and concern around the issues.
‘Beyond the body counts’ Other groups supporting the bill include Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, New Mexico Voices for children, four public health groups, including the American Lung Association, and two climate organizations.
Advocates note that climate disasters already harm and kill New Mexicans. Deaths and injuries from extreme heat are rising; floods across the state, including Roswell, raise concerns for mold development; smoke from wildfires harms lungs, especially for children and the elderly.
Stephanie Moraga-McHaley ran the environment health tracking program at the New Mexico Department of Health until her retirement in 2024. She supports the bill because it could expand the current program, which tracks the raw numbers of deaths and injuries.
“There’s just so much that needs to be done besides the body counts,” said Stephanie Moraga-McHaley, who retired from the health agency in March. “We need to get some action in place, some coordination with other departments and communities in need.”
Current numbers of impacted people are an undercount, said Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, a Healthy Climate New Mexico board member and public health researcher.
Matthews-Trigg said New Mexico health officials have made improvements in tracking the number of heat injuries and deaths – which are difficult numbers to pin down – but there needs to be more funding and staff on board.
“We know from emergency department visits that they’re increasing dramatically due to extreme heat,” Matthews-Trigg said. “But, we also know how we’re tracking these is really just giving us a sliver of the actual impact of heat on our communities and on health.”
He said climate disasters pose the “greatest public health threat in our lifetimes,” and warned that impacts will only worsen if heating from fossil fuel emissions doesn’t slow.
“It’s not going to go away,” he said. “And we’re flying blind, without the surveillance.”
BernCo commission pressing forward on treasurer’s deputy hire — Andy Lyman, City Desk ABQ
Bernalillo County commissioners are pressing the issue of how much authority they have over staff hiring for elected officials. They’ll be discussing the issue again Tuesday, in a second closed session before their regular meeting.
After a closed meeting Thursday, the board authorized County Attorney Ken Martinez to proceed with certain steps toward resolving the issue. The motion authorizing the actions did not specify what those steps will be. The agenda from the first meeting stated commissioners would discuss “restrictions on employment and appointment after leaving office.”
Commission Chair Barbara Baca asked for the first special meeting after newly elected treasurer Tim Eichenberg hired former county clerk Linda Stover as his deputy.
Stover was sworn in Jan. 1, the day after her term as clerk ended.
Commissioners in December voted to keep in place a one-year “cooling-off period” in the county’s code of conduct for former elected officials before they can accept employment or consulting work with the county.
Eichenberg hired Stover anyway, arguing state law permits him to choose his deputy regardless of any restriction from commissioners.
Baca and Vice Chair Eric Olivas disputed that assertion and said the special meeting would help clarify the issue.
Olivas told CityDesk ABQ Thursday’s meeting consisted of a lot of thoughtful discussion of options available to commissioners. He declined to go further, as the caucus covered pending litigation and personnel issues.
He said major decisions on a strategy will likely be made in Tuesday’s closed meeting.
“We have to discuss the best course of action for the Board of Commissioners,” he said. “But also for our taxpayers and our public trust.”