Albuquerque Personal Injury Law Blog

A previous post on this blog talked about medical complications that can lead to serious birth injuries if not properly cared for. Indeed, medical errors during pregnancy and childbirth are a very serious type of medical malpractice because they can affect two people, the mom and the baby. Moreover, it is very hard on a family to watch their newborn go through a long, sometimes lifelong, recovery process after a preventable injury.

However, there are lots of other ways doctors and other medical professionals whom Albuquerque residents entrust with their own lives and the lives of our loved ones can seriously let them down. For example, this blog has previously discussed medical malpractice and other acts of negligence that are all too common in New Mexico nursing homes. This type of carelessness can, in the worst case, cut short the life of a family's beloved relative.

Not surprisingly given the increasing life expectancy, and should the trend continue, the number of people over age 85 living in the United States will increase by more than 100 percent by 2050. Right now, people in this age group make up a little under 2 percent of the country's population, but they are expected to constitute 4.5 percent of the population in 2050. With society become less and less integrated around the broader family unit, this means more elderly people in New Mexico and nationwide are going to have to turn to professionals for medical and personal care when they get too old to attend to these needs themselves.

These statistics point to the ongoing problem in the health care industry with a shortage of quality health care professionals, nurses, aides and the like, who can attend to the needs of the elderly with compassion and attentiveness. In the world of home health care, estimates are that the economy will need another 1 million home health professionals by 2026. This is number is 50 percent higher than where it was a few short years ago, in 2014.

As part of its ongoing responsibility to keep the roads of both New Mexico and the rest of the country safe, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has for over a decade been involved in the Share the Road campaign, a public awareness campaign that various states use to draw attention to the dangers motorcyclists face at the hands of other divers.

As part of its involvement, NHSTA has researched several statistics and developed tips that individual states, when applying for grant money to conduct a public awareness campaign, can transmit by a number of means, including their driver's manuals and other paperwork. Some of NHTSA's observations bear repeating, as they may help prevent motorcycle accidents in the Albuquerque area.

More so than other drivers, motorcyclists have to be mindful of objects on the road, as even small items like rocks can cause serious motorcycle accidents.

Due to the size and design of motorcycles, even a small item on the road may require a motorcyclist either to make a potentially dangerous emergency swerve or stop or risk being thrown from their bikes after hitting the object. Either scenario can leave a motorcyclist dead or recovering from life-altering and permanent injuries, including brain damage or paralysis.