ACCOUNTABILITY AND STABLE, TRUSTED LEADERSHIP. WELL, WE HAVE HEARD STORIES ABOUT HOW NEW MEXICANS STRUGGLE TO GET HEALTH CARE. TONIGHT, A TARGET 7 INVESTIGATION COREY HOWARD FOUND ONE BOY WHO KNOWS THE STRUGGLES ALL TOO WELL. NOW, THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN BY THAT CHILD, AND INSIDE IT TALKS ABOUT BEING HAPPY. REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH. SOMETHING HE HAD TO LEARN FIRSTHAND. THIS ROOM LOOKS LIKE A CHILD’S DREAM. BUT TOYS EVERYWHERE, MOST OF THEM MADE BY MICHAEL AND NAOMI’S YOUNG BOYS, SANTIAGO AND SEBASTIAN. THOSE JOYFUL MEMORIES DIDN’T COME WITHOUT THEIR GLOOMY DAYS. OUR SON SEBASTIAN WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AN ULTRA RARE AND INCURABLE CANCER CALLED MYOEPITHELIAL CARCINOMA, DIAGNOSED IN OCTOBER OF 2021. THIS TWO YEAR OLD WOULD HAVE TO FIGHT AN UPHILL BATTLE. DOCTORS FOUND CANCER IN HIS HAND AT THE TIME OF DIAGNOSIS. IT HAD SPREAD TO HIS LUNGS, MAKING IT STAGE FOUR. NOW YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT MICHAEL AND NAOMI FELT WALKING OUT OF THE HOSPITAL. CANCER IN SEBASTIAN’S HAND, AND THEY WERE TRYING TO DECIDE WHETHER IT NEEDED TO BE AMPUTATED. BUT FIRST THEY SOUGHT A SECOND OPINION FROM ANOTHER DOCTOR OUTSIDE OF THE STATE, ONLY TO BE MET WITH ANOTHER ROADBLOCK. SOME OFFERED TO SPEAK WITH US OVER ZOOM, AND THAT’S WHEN WE LEARNED THAT THAT WE WEREN’T ABLE TO DO SO BECAUSE NEW MEXICO WAS NOT A MEMBER OF THE INTERSTATE MEDICAL LICENSURE COMPACT, A COMPACT THAT ALLOWS DOCTORS TO PRACTICE IN OTHER STATES. NEW MEXICO IS ONE OF ONLY SEVEN STATES THAT WASN’T PART OF THE COMPACT. SEBASTIAN’S ONLY HOPE SLOWLY FADING. SOME OF THE DARKEST TIMES FOR OUR FAMILY, HAVING TO SEE OUR TWO YEAR OLD SON GO THROUGH. TEN ROUNDS OF GRUELING CHEMOTHERAPY. IT WAS A VERY DIFFICULT TIME, BUT DOCTORS FOUND A TEMPORARY SOLUTION. ONE OF THE TOP ONCOLOGISTS IN THE COUNTRY WHO HAD RECENTLY MOVED FROM TEXAS TO PHILADELPHIA, TOLD US, TOO BAD YOU’RE NOT IN TEXAS BECAUSE I HAVE A MEDICAL LICENSE IN TEXAS. AND I COULD SPEAK TO YOU VIA ZOOM. SO THAT’S WHAT MICHAEL AND NAOMI DID EVERY TIME THEY WANTED TO HAVE A ZOOM CALL WITH A DOCTOR, THEY DROVE FOUR HOURS TO TEXAS, THEIR STORY SPARKING STATEWIDE CONVERSATION ABOUT THE STATE’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. WELL, WE HAVE A DOCTOR SHORTAGE IN NEW MEXICO. WE’RE THE ONLY STATE THAT HAS LOST DOCTORS FOR THE LAST FIVE YEARS. FRED NATHAN IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THINK NEW MEXICO, A NONPROFIT THAT’S DEDICATED TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR EVERYONE IN THE STATE TO HELP PEOPLE LIKE SEBASTIAN, HE BACKED SENATE BILL ONE, WHICH ALLOWS NEW MEXICO TO JOIN THE COMPACT. THIS IS AN EASY AND SMART WAY TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR DOCTORS FROM OTHER PLACES TO COME HERE AND GET LICENSED IMMEDIATELY. THE MEDICAL COMPACTS BILL IS NOW LAW. AFTER PREVIOUSLY STALLING IN THE LEGISLATURE THIS YEAR, NEW MEXICO FINALLY JOINED THE COMPACT. AND SEBASTIAN IS STILL HERE TO SEE IT. FOUR YEARS AFTER BEING DIAGNOSED. AND HE WAS THERE WHEN GOVERNOR MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM SIGNED IT INTO LAW. I THINK DISAPPOINTING THAT IT’S TAKEN THIS LONG TO GET THE COMPACT DONE. IT GOT DONE BECAUSE OF POLITICAL WILL AND BECAUSE OF PUBLIC PRESSURE. BUT NATHAN SAID THAT THERE ARE MORE ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE FIXED, AND NEW MEXICANS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO RELY ON OUT-OF-STATE DOCTORS. THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH OUR MALPRACTICE LAWS ARE IS THIS CONCEPT OF PUNITIVE DAMAGES. WE HAVE THE LOWEST STANDARD FOR PROVING PUNITIVE DAMAGES. THOSE PUNITIVE DAMAGES HAVE RAISED INSURANCE PREMIUMS SO HIGH THAT 65% OF DOCTORS TOLD THE LEGISLATOR THEY’RE CONSIDERING LEAVING THE STATE, COMPOUNDING NEW MEXICO’S DOCTOR SHORTAGE, 94% OF DOCTORS HAVE SAID THE SHORTAGE IMPACTS THEIR ABILITY TO PROVIDE CARE. PEOPLE LIKE SEBASTIAN SUFFER BECAUSE OF IT, BUT CHANGES ARE SLOWLY BEING MADE. WOW, LOOK AT IT. HE’S OUR TEACHER. HE’S OUR DREAMER, AND WE’RE DREAMING RIGHT ALONG WITH HER. AS FOR SEBASTIAN, DOCTORS WERE ABLE TO SAVE HIS HAND. HIS PARENTS TELL ME HE’S STILL FIGHTING, BUT AT LEAST HE HAS DOCTORS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY HELPING HIM WITH THAT FIGHT. IN THIS LETTER HE SAID SOMETIMES THE MOST MEANINGFUL GIFTS ARRIVE IN THE SMALLEST WAYS. FOR TARGET 7, I’M COREY HOWARD.
A New Mexico family’s struggle to access health care for their son, diagnosed with a rare cancer, has led to the state joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.In October 2021, Michael and Naomi’s son, Sebastián, was diagnosed with an ultra-rare, incurable cancer called myoepithelial carcinoma, which had spread to his lungs, making it stage four. Faced with the difficult decision of whether to amputate Sebastián’s hand, the family sought a second opinion outside the state but encountered obstacles due to New Mexico not being part of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.”Some offered to speak with us over Zoom, and that’s when we learned that we weren’t able to do so, because New Mexico was not a member of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact,” Michael said. This compact allows doctors to practice in other states, and New Mexico was one of only seven states not part of it, leaving Sebastián’s hope slowly fading.”In navigating a really rare cancer, if we think about how we feel in that situation, we feel utterly alone,” Naomi said. However, a temporary solution was found when one of the top oncologists in the country, who had recently moved from Texas to Philadelphia, offered to consult with them via Zoom if they were in Texas. Consequently, Michael and Naomi drove four hours to Texas for every Zoom call with the doctor.Their story sparked a statewide conversation about New Mexico’s health care system. Fred Nathan, executive director of Think New Mexico, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life in the state, backed Senate Bill 1, which allows New Mexico to join the compact.”This is an easy and smart way to make it easier for doctors from other places to come here and get licensed immediately,” Nathan said.”The Medical Compact Bill is now law,” Michelle Lujan Grisham, the governor of New Mexico, said after signing the bill on Feb. 5. After previously stalling in the legislature, this year New Mexico finally joined the compact, and Sebastián was present when Governor Grisham signed it.”It’s been disappointing that it’s taken this long to get the compact done. It got done because of political will and because of public pressure,” Michael said.Despite this progress, Nathan emphasized that more issues need to be addressed, particularly the state’s malpractice laws, which have raised insurance premiums so high that 65 percent of doctors are considering leaving the state.As for Sebastián, doctors were able to save his hand. Michael and Naomi say he is still fighting, but at least now he has doctors from around the country helping him with that fight.In a letter Sebastián wrote, he said, “Sometimes the most meaningful gifts arrive in the smallest ways.”
A New Mexico family’s struggle to access health care for their son, diagnosed with a rare cancer, has led to the state joining the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.
In October 2021, Michael and Naomi’s son, Sebastián, was diagnosed with an ultra-rare, incurable cancer called myoepithelial carcinoma, which had spread to his lungs, making it stage four. Faced with the difficult decision of whether to amputate Sebastián’s hand, the family sought a second opinion outside the state but encountered obstacles due to New Mexico not being part of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.
“Some offered to speak with us over Zoom, and that’s when we learned that we weren’t able to do so, because New Mexico was not a member of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact,” Michael said. This compact allows doctors to practice in other states, and New Mexico was one of only seven states not part of it, leaving Sebastián’s hope slowly fading.
“In navigating a really rare cancer, if we think about how we feel in that situation, we feel utterly alone,” Naomi said. However, a temporary solution was found when one of the top oncologists in the country, who had recently moved from Texas to Philadelphia, offered to consult with them via Zoom if they were in Texas. Consequently, Michael and Naomi drove four hours to Texas for every Zoom call with the doctor.
Their story sparked a statewide conversation about New Mexico’s health care system. Fred Nathan, executive director of Think New Mexico, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life in the state, backed Senate Bill 1, which allows New Mexico to join the compact.
“This is an easy and smart way to make it easier for doctors from other places to come here and get licensed immediately,” Nathan said.
“The Medical Compact Bill is now law,” Michelle Lujan Grisham, the governor of New Mexico, said after signing the bill on Feb. 5. After previously stalling in the legislature, this year New Mexico finally joined the compact, and Sebastián was present when Governor Grisham signed it.
“It’s been disappointing that it’s taken this long to get the compact done. It got done because of political will and because of public pressure,” Michael said.
Despite this progress, Nathan emphasized that more issues need to be addressed, particularly the state’s malpractice laws, which have raised insurance premiums so high that 65 percent of doctors are considering leaving the state.
As for Sebastián, doctors were able to save his hand. Michael and Naomi say he is still fighting, but at least now he has doctors from around the country helping him with that fight.
In a letter Sebastián wrote, he said, “Sometimes the most meaningful gifts arrive in the smallest ways.”
