Firefighter cancer presumption in New Mexico
Once you've served 5 years, New Mexico presumes the job caused 17 cancers.
The statute is NMSA 1978 § 52-3-32.1. It applies to workers' comp.
Presumed means the law assumes your job caused the cancer, so your employer has to show it came from something else. Workers' comp (workers' compensation) is the insurance that pays medical bills and part of your lost pay when work makes you sick.
Conditions under New Mexico's law
- Your service lasted 5 years or more.
- Volunteers don't get this coverage. Only full-time paid firefighters who work for the state or a local government fall under the rule.
- Your cancer has to be a type that New Mexico's law lists.
- Your hiring medical exam or any later medical review must not have found the cancer.
- Breast cancer qualifies only without a BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic risk.
- Testicular cancer counts only if no evidence shows you used human growth hormone or anabolic steroids.
Something other than the job could be the cause, and your employer can argue that. Risky activities you do away from work are one example.
Call about your New Mexico claim
Questions about your diagnosis, your service record or your deadline go to the claims line: +1 833 853 0496
Cancers New Mexico's law covers
| Cancer | Covered in New Mexico? |
|---|---|
| Bladder cancer | Yes |
| Brain cancer | Yes |
| Cancer of the breastOnly without a BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic predisposition | Yes |
| Colon or rectal cancer | Yes |
| Esophagus cancer | Yes |
| Kidney cancer | Yes |
| Leukemia | Yes |
| Lung cancer | Yes |
| Mesothelioma | Yes |
| Multiple myeloma | Yes |
| Non-Hodgkin lymphoma | Yes |
| Ovarian, cervical or uterine cancer | Yes |
| Prostate cancer | Yes |
| Skin cancer, melanoma included | Yes |
| Stomach cancer | Yes |
| Cancer of the testiclesOnly if nothing shows use of anabolic steroids or of human growth hormone | Yes |
| Thyroid cancer | Yes |
| Liver cancer | Not named |
| Pancreatic cancer | Not named |
| Throat or mouth cancer | Not named |
A cancer labeled "Not named" can still be part of a workers' comp claim, but a doctor must tie it to your job.
In New Mexico, how do you file a workers' comp cancer claim as a firefighter?
- Put it in writing to your department: you have cancer and you believe the job is the cause. Keep your own copy.
- Your employer's insurer is one way to file, and the New Mexico Workers' Compensation Administration is another. The law (NMSA 1978 § 52-3-32.1) goes on the form.
- Pull together your diagnosis, the dates you were hired and served, any physical exam results, and records of fires and exposures.
- Start soon. Workers' comp claims have time limits for telling your employer and for filing, and some are short.