A patient or his representative having a malpractice claim for bodily injury or death may file a complaint in any court of law having requisite jurisdiction and demand right of trial by jury. No dollar amount or figure shall be included in the demand in any complaint asserting a malpractice claim and filed after the effective date of this section, but the request shall be for such damages as are reasonable. This section shall not prevent a patient or his representative from alleging a requisite jurisdictional amount in a malpractice claim filed in a court requiring such an allegation.

History: 1953 Comp., § 58-33-4, enacted by Laws 1976, ch. 2, § 4; 1977, ch. 284, § 2.

Emergency clauses. — Laws 1977, ch. 284, § 5 contained an emergency clause and was approved April 7, 1977.

Cross references. — For jurisdictional amount in magistrate court, see 35-3-3 NMSA 1978.

For commencement of action in district court, see Rule 1-003 NMRA.

For commencement of action by complaint in magistrate court, see Rule 2-201 NMRA.

This section refers to jurisdiction, not venue, and 38-3-1 NMSA 1978 governs venue in an action brought under the Medical Malpractice Act [Chapter 41, Article 5 NMSA 1978]. Bullock v. Lehman, 1983-NMCA-024, 99 N.M. 515, 660 P.2d 605.

"Representative". — The "representative" who may bring suit for a death under this section means the same thing as the personal representative under the wrongful death statute. Mackey v. Burke, 1984-NMCA-028, 102 N.M. 294, 694 P.2d 1359, cert. quashed, 102 N.M. 293, 694 P.2d 1358 (1985), overruled on other grounds by Chavez v. Regents of Univ. of N.M., 1985-NMSC-114, 103 N.M. 606, 711 P.2d 883.

Qualification of personal representative. — Where an original pleading alleged a valid cause of action, relation back of the appointment of the plaintiff as personal representative to the initial filing of the action did not compromise this section nor the statute of limitations. Chavez v. Regents of Univ. of N.M., 1985-NMSC-114, 103 N.M. 606, 711 P.2d 883.

Law reviews. — For article, "Medical Malpractice Legislation in New Mexico," see 7 N.M.L. Rev. 5 (1976-77).