New Mexico Hospital To Pay $10M in Bed Sore Case

A Las Vegas, N.M., jury has awarded $10,3 million to the estate of a Raton, N.M., man as compensation for bed sores he developed after a stay at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, the

State District Judge Abigail Aragon in the Fourth District designated $595,000 for compensatory damages and $9.75 million for punitive damages.

According to the case, Alfred Gonzales was a patient at St. Vincent following hip surgery. There, he suffered from bed sores, or pressure wounds, and malnourishment because employees failed to follow procedures for preventing the sores.

Gonzales died in 2008 from causes unrelated to this case.