$758000 Verdict For Choking Death: A New Mexico nursing home negligence jury returned its verdict in the amount of $758,000 on October 19, 2022 against the Uptown Rehabilitation Center located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the death of resident Peter Robinson who choked on a hot dog in 2019 after he entered the dining hall unsupervised.
A nursing progress note entered into evidence stated that at 1:30 p.m., Mr. Robinson was observed choking as he walked from the kitchen “very frantic.” Inside his mouth was part of a dinner roll and hot dog. The nursing home staff administered CPR but Mr. Robinson became unresponsive and died.
Mr. Robinson was suffering from late-stage dementia and was restricted to a pureed diet at the time of his choking death. The New Mexico nursing home negligence lawsuit alleged that the nursing home was inadequately staffed and was negligent in its care of Mr. Robinson. The defendant nursing home argued that the choking death was an accident that could not have been prevented.
Spoliation Of Evidence
The New Mexico nursing home negligence trial was unusual because the defendant nursing home had failed to retain its routine surveillance video that depicted the dining hall and should have depicted the incident but instead taped over the video after 30 days, which was its routine with regard to its video recordings.
In ruling that the nursing home negligence jury would only determine damages because the nursing home had committed spoliation of evidence, the trial judge determined liability in favor of the plaintiff and stated in his October 2022 order: “At a minimum, the Center was reckless in failing to retain the videos and it is not a far leap for this Court to conclude that the Center purposely allowed the videos to be erased because of their potential evidentiary value in providing the Center’s liability.” The judge noted that the destroyed videotape may have shown who else was present in the dining room at the time, whether the dining room doors were opened or closed, and whether food trays had been cleared, etc.
The Uptown Rehabilitation Center is one of ten nursing homes located in Albuquerque affiliated with Genesis Healthcare. The Uptown Rehabilitation Center was reportedly fined $22,555 by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for Mr. Robinson’s death.
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