The crisis at the border is well documented. So, too, are the atrocities that are routinely committed by ICE and CBP on the refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. There is no need to rehash those here. Instead, we will focus on something that is not getting as much attention as it deserves, the medical…
New Mexico Injury Attorney Blog
Emergency Medical Care and Emergency Transport in New Mexico’s Prisons
In a recent article from Prison Legal News entitled, “New Mexico Court Denies Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Policy of Denying Transport to Medical Appointments During Lockdowns”, yet another series of systemic flaws in the medical care of New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) inmates are highlighted. The article explains the systemic failures to appropriately deal…
Profit Margins, Negligent Prison Medical Care and New Mexico Taxpayers
In a series of cases widely covered by the media, one facility’s atrocious medical care services resulted in exorbitant fiscal and physical cost—the former picked up by New Mexico taxpayers via New Mexico Medicaid, the latter suffered by the inmates. Specifically, we are referring to a group of inmates housed at one correctional facility between…
Prison Diabetes Emergencies Treated as Disciplinary Matters
Hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia both have symptoms that can lead to devastating and rather cruel misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose. The misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a diabetic episode is often driven by prejudicial assumptions that the symptoms suggest misconduct on the part of the inmate rather than the medical emergency that it is. These assumptions…
Shocking National Data Pale by Comparison to Prison Diabetes Data
National Statistics on Diabetes The national statistics on diabetes are shocking: According to the National Center for Health Statistics, among adults 20 years and over the percent with diabetes (physician-diagnosed or undiagnosed) stood at 12.6% (2011-2014) of the population. This breaks down to 9.6% with physician-diagnosed diabetes and 3% undiagnosed. Diabetes is currently the number…
Untreated and Negligently Treated Diabetes in New Mexico Prisons
Something we should all be concerned about Most folks don’t give prison healthcare much thought. They should. The costs of poor prison healthcare as remote as it sounds, affects all of us and our communities. Prisoners have all the same health issues as the rest of us. However, the health issues that prisoners have quickly…
Investigation and Reporting of New Mexico Prison Suicides
Reporting of Inmate Deaths to Family The New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) provides policies regarding what is to happen when an inmate dies, is injured or becomes seriously ill while in custody. Those policies may be referenced on the NMCD web-site under the health services policy section, CD-172100 Notification of Serious Illness, Injury or Death…
FMCSA Interventions for Unsafe Trucking and Bus Carriers
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is charged with the regulation of motor carriers (trucks and buses) safety. To meet its safety objectives, the FMCSA created its “Safety Measurement System” (SMS). The SMS is in turn implemented through the “Compliance, Safety, Accountability” (CSA) system. The CSA system uses roadside inspections and crash data to…
Trucking COMPLIANCE, SAFETY and ACCOUNTABILITY (CSA)
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Safety Measurement System (SMS) states: “There are 5 million truck and bus drivers sharing the road with more than 250 million motorists. With stakes so high, it’s essential that everyone Get Road Smart. We can’t do it without you.” The “you” the FMCSA is referring to is trucking…
Transference Phenomena and Sexual Relations with a Therapist
Transference phenomena is a common phenomenon that occurs between patients and doctors. It is particularly prone to occur in cases involving patients and therapists. The laws are very clear that in cases involving transference phenomena that jeopardizes the well-being of the patient, the patient should be referred immediately to another provider. This is absolutely critical…