Recognizing Albuquerque Nursing Home Abuse or Neglect
Unfortunately, the Albuquerque metro area has some of the lowest rated nursing homes in New Mexico. Even highly rated 5-star nursing homes are capable of bad care. Tragically, it is usually the most vulnerable patients that receive the worst care. This is because they are non-verbal or have advanced dementia, which prevents them from raising complaints.
It is crucial that you remain vigilant in inspecting your loved one for ‘red flag’ injuries suggestive of nursing home abuse and neglect. If your family member suffered any of the below injuries or ailments, contact Senior Justice Law Firm today at (505) 591-1455 for a free case investigation.
Learn More About…
Nursing home abuse can be difficult to spot, and it doesn’t always take the form of bruises or scrapes. Nursing home neglect, or the withholding of crucial care, treatment, or supervision, is a form of nursing home abuse. In other words, if an Albuquerque nursing home ignores your family member and they suffer injury, this is a form of nursing home abuse, even if the harm was not intentional.
If your loved one experiences falls resulting in broken bones, the nursing home may not be doing its due diligence to protect its residents. Similarly, if a high risk patient is not moved and repositioned, they will develop bed sores which strongly indicate neglect. When a patient is sick, feverish, losing weight, or rapidly declining, it is the legal duty of the nurses at the facility to take prompt action before it is too late. Failing to get that resident to a hospital, or at least a doctor, is likely nursing home negligence.
All nursing homes have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their residents as much as possible. While many of these injuries are partly due to the patient’s underlying health conditions, long-term care facilities must mitigate these risks and create detailed care plans to address these issues. When they do not adequately supervise, assist, and react to a resident’s ongoing needs, this is nursing home negligence.
Whether you have seen physical evidence that someone you love has been abused or neglected in an Albuquerque nursing home or you simply suspect that misbehavior is happening, you have options. This is true even if your family member passed away due to the neglect. Contact Senior Justice Law Firm today at (505) 591-1455 and we will walk you through your legal options.
In addition to legal remedies, resources are available to field reports of abuse and negligence in Albuquerque’s long-term care facilities.
How Can I Report Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect in Albuquerque?
Of course, any emergent needs should be treated with the proper care. If your family member is in acute distress, call 911. Local law enforcement in Albuquerque can be contacted at (505) 768-2020 if you note that your family member needs immediate assistance, but not emergency services. Even if the nursing home tells you that they will handle the problem or that you should not call emergency services, do not trust them. It is your right to call. This is also true of local Albuquerque ambulance services, which can be reached at (505) 449-5700.
Once you have observed signs of abuse or have reason to believe that negligence is occurring, the next thing you should do is begin filing reports to the appropriate authorities. There are multiple departments that you can report to in both New Mexico as a whole as well as Albuquerque specifically. The New Mexico Department of Health, for example, is a good first stop for reporting nursing home abuse. The New Mexico nursing home negligence hotline is available at 1-800-445-6242, which is the number specifically oriented toward how residents are treated within facilities. If you notice a problem related to the nursing home itself, then you should call 1-800-752-8649 instead.
New Mexico––like every other state––administers an ombudsman program that is specifically meant to aid the elderly in care facilities such as nursing homes. The statewide New Mexico ombudsman’s number is 1-866-451-2901. However, Phyllis Gilmore and Christine Jacquez oversee the local Albuquerque-based ombudsman office located at 625 Silver SW, Ste. 414 in Albuquerque. They can be reached at (505) 231-3196, and any supporting documentation can be faxed to (855) 403-5881.
If you wish to report a complaint online instead, you can follow the instructions from the Health Facility Reporting System:
- Fill out the resident/patient/client information. Complete as many details about the subject as you accurately can, such as name and social security number. Leave the space blank if the subject does not have a social security number, and make sure to write the physical address of the incident you are reporting.
- Describe the incident that you are reporting. Fill in as many details about the allegation type as you can, and answer all the questions concerning responsibility, obligation, provider agency, and incident date and time. Make sure to describe the incident that occurred in as much detail as possible, and include descriptions from both before and after the incident as well if relevant.
- Complete agency or facility information and report as many details as you can about the facility you are filing a complaint about. Do not write initials; instead, fill in the complete name of all parties, whether they are a unit of a larger facility or the facility itself.
- Complete the administrative information and write down everything you know about funding sources.
- Notify agencies and note any legal guardians, case managers, or other agencies involved.
It may be difficult to think about, but even sexual assault and mental trauma can occur in nursing homes that do not adhere to proper care standards for their residents. These injuries can arise from problematic staff themselves, or they may happen when residents are not appropriately monitored and are free to engage with each other without supervision.
You know your family member. If they are behaving differently than they usually do, remain vigilant. Sometimes, previous abuses may not be immediately evident with bodily signs, but your loved one’s demeanor can hint at past troubles. Likewise, if you feel like your family member passed away under mysterious circumstances, contact the appropriate authorities to begin a free investigation into a potential Albuquerque nursing home wrongful death.