The New Mexico Medical Board determined in April 2024 that 73-year-old neurosurgeon Mark Erasmus exhibited “manifest incapacity or incompetence,” and thus he was found to be unfit to continue working as a doctor. Erasmus appealed the Board’s decision and on December 30, 2024, a New Mexico state district judge upheld the Board’s revocation of Erasmus’ medical license, which Erasmus stated he intends to appeal.
Erasmus reportedly agreed to undergo a fitness for duty evaluation and a neuropsychological evaluation to determine safety to practice, and the evaluations began in December 2022. The Board sent a notice to Erasmus in September 2023 reportedly stating, “The results of those evaluations show respondent is not fit to practice medicine.”
Erasmus reportedly has been sued for medical malpractice nine times since 2001; Erasmus’ medical malpractice insurance company reportedly paid $19 million in medical malpractice settlements on Erasmus’ behalf to 26 claimants since 2001. There are currently four medical malpractice claims pending against Erasmus, including three former patients who now are confined to wheelchairs, according to reporting.
One such former patient is 52-year-old Diane Jennifer Gutierrez, who became partially paralyzed after Erasmus performed spinal fusion on her in February 2022, to relieve upper back and shoulder pain that radiated down her left arm. The surgery was performed at Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gutierrez’s New Mexico medical malpractice lawyer stated, “She literally walked in there and never walked again.” (Erasmus denies liability and argues that Gutierrez’s condition is due to suffering a stroke.)
A deposition taken in the case reportedly included testimony that a month before Gutierrez’s surgery, Erasmus had a medical event that forced him to stop operating on a different patient, requiring another surgeon to complete the procedure. Erasmus’ lawyer contends that Erasmus passed out but did not lose consciousness and was subsequently cleared by a cardiologist to continue practicing neurosurgery.
Gutierrez’s lawsuit also names Lovelace Medical Center as a defendant, alleging: “It can only be for monetary profit that Lovelace Medical Center and its owners and operators would hire, retain, credential and privilege such a well-known incompetent surgeon as Dr. Erasmus.”
At the time of Gutierrez’s surgery, Erasmus reportedly was going through a bad divorce. His attorney alleged that Erasmus has been dealing with the effects of long COVID and other health issues for the last several years.
Erasmus’ attorney argues that the Board deemed Erasmus unfit for duty specifically as a neurosurgeon but since he was not considered unfit to practice medicine generally, he should be allowed to teach, perform insurance reviews, and perform independent medical exams.
If you or a loved one may have been injured as a result of medical negligence in New Mexico or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a New Mexico medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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