Nursing home and elder abuse claims
Protecting elders is a legal and cultural priority across New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. Keeler & Keeler represents vulnerable adults and their families when a nursing home, assisted living facility, home health agency, hospital, or private caretaker causes harm through abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation. We bring these cases against licensed facilities, government-run homes, tribal and federal institutions, and individual caretakers.
What counts as abuse and neglect
New Mexico defines abuse and neglect broadly. Under the Adult Protective Services Act and the Resident Abuse and Neglect Act, abuse includes physical injury, sexual abuse, verbal intimidation, unnecessary restraints, and inappropriate use of medication. Neglect includes failing to provide food, water, shelter, hygiene, medical care, or supervision. Exploitation is the misuse of an elder's money or property. Federal law adds a residents' bill of rights for every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home, covering dignity, freedom from restraints, and proper care planning.
Warning signs families should not ignore
- Bedsores (pressure ulcers), especially at stage three or four.
- Unexplained bruises, fractures, or falls, or injuries with changing explanations.
- Rapid weight loss, dehydration, or untreated infections.
- Sedation, confusion, or personality changes that track medication changes.
- Poor hygiene, soiled bedding, or a resident left alone for long stretches.
- Missing money, changed wills or powers of attorney, and new "friends" managing finances.
- Staff who will not let you visit alone or who deflect questions.
Who can be held responsible
- The facility, for understaffing, negligent hiring and training, ignored care plans, and failure to act on notice of abuse. Corporate owners and management companies can share that liability.
- Individual caretakers, for abuse or neglect they committed.
- Government facilities such as a state-run home, which go through the Tort Claims Act with its 90-day notice, and federal or tribal facilities under the Federal Tort Claims Act with its two-year administrative claim.
- Medical providers, when the harm is malpractice rather than custodial neglect.
Reporting is required
Any person who has reasonable cause to believe an incapacitated adult is being abused, neglected, or exploited must report it to Adult Protective Services under Section 27-7-30. Failing to report is a misdemeanor. A report protects the elder now; the civil claim holds the facility accountable and pays for what the harm has cost. We help families do both, and we coordinate with the state's long-term care ombudsman and, where the elder lives on the Navajo Nation, with the Nation's own elder protection process.
What a family can recover
Medical costs from the neglect, the cost of moving to a safe facility, compensation for pain and loss of dignity, restitution of exploited funds, and punitive damages against reckless facilities. When neglect causes a death, the family can bring a wrongful death claim; the firm's representative results include a $425,000 nursing home abuse and wrongful death recovery. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Deadlines
Most claims must be filed within three years of the injury under Section 37-1-8, or three years from the date of death for a wrongful death claim. Government and federal facilities have much shorter notice deadlines, and facility records can be thin or rewritten, so call early. The consultation is free and there is no fee unless we win.
The law behind these cases
- NMSA 1978, Section 27-7-30Every person with reasonable cause to believe an incapacitated adult is being abused, neglected, or exploited must report it; failing to report is a misdemeanor.
- NMSA 1978, Section 30-47-3The Resident Abuse and Neglect Act defines abuse and neglect of care-facility residents and makes them crimes.
- 42 U.S.C. Section 1396rThe federal Nursing Home Reform Act: residents' rights and care standards for every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home.
- NMSA 1978, Section 37-1-8Three years from the injury to file a civil claim against a private facility or caretaker.
Each citation links to the statute, regulation, or reported opinion. How they apply depends on the facts of your case.
Where we handle nursing home abuse cases
Keeler & Keeler is based in Gallup, New Mexico, and represents injured people across McKinley County, San Juan County, Cibola County, the Interstate 40 corridor, and the Navajo Nation. If you are looking for a nursing home abuse lawyer in Gallup, nursing home abuse lawyer in Grants, nursing home abuse lawyer in Farmington, nursing home abuse lawyer in Albuquerque, nursing home abuse lawyer for the Navajo Nation, the consultation is free and can start with a phone call to (505) 722-5608.