On May 1, 2006, Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim wrote to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to report the findings of the Civil Rights Division’s investigation of conditions and practices at the Fort Bayard Medical Center (“Ft. Bayard”) in Bayard, New Mexico, pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997.
Ft. Bayard is a state-owned and -operated nursing home in the southwestern part of New Mexico. The nursing home serves about 210 residents in six different areas. One of the areas provides nursing services to veterans only, through a contract with the Veterans Administration.
After a comprehensive investigation, the Division found that numerous conditions and practices at Ft. Bayard violate the constitutional and federal statutory rights of its residents. The investigation revealed a wide range of dangerously deficient medical and nursing care practices. These practices not only failed to comply with federal regulations or meet professional standards, but were in fact aiding and contributing to the needless suffering and untimely deaths of Ft. Bayard’s residents. We found numerous situations where residents’ last days of life were spent in miserable pain as they died from the effects of what appeared to be reckless and almost willful disregard to their health and safety.
New Mexico has pledged to cooperate with the Division as we negotiate an agreement to remedy the egregious conditions at Ft. Bayard.