When a loved one in New Mexico is injured at a nursing home, depending on the circumstances, the nursing staff responsible for taking care of him or her may be held responsible for the injuries. In one recent out-of-state case involving alleged nursing home neglect, a Certified Nursing Assistant was charged with felony criminal neglect (two counts) after an elderly male resident of a nursing home was reportedly discovered with a deep cut in his leg. The injured resident is 79 years old.
Police said they went to the nursing home to investigate an injury suffered by a patient. The patient had been taken to a hospital earlier that day after it was discovered that he had a cut that required sutures. Authorities learned that the man suffered a cut to the lower part of his right leg during the nighttime.
Police determined that the 45-year-old Certified Nursing Assistant had improperly cared for the patient. Specifically, the cut was reportedly not bandaged properly. The defendant is also accused of failing to notify the staff at the nursing home of the resident’s laceration.
When nursing home neglect causes serious injuries to a patient, it is within the rights of the injured party to file a lawsuit against the facility, pursuing a claim for monetary damages. Likewise, if a nursing home resident dies as a result of the home’s failure to exercise a reasonable degree of care, the dead resident’s surviving loved ones have the right to file a wrongful death claim against the facility. A monetary award in a case that is successfully litigated may help to cover funeral costs and medical bills, among other documented damages recognized by the laws of New Mexico.
Source: Highland Park, IL, Patch, “Nursing assistant charged with patient neglect“, Tim Moran, Dec. 3, 2015
