Employees with the Department of Behavioral Health filed a class action lawsuit against Gallup Indian Medical Center's Medical Director Gary Escudero. The lawsuit listed a number of grievances against Escudero which include allegations of racial discrimination and cultural insensitivity toward Native American staff.
Rather than implementing policy and change that falls in line with Native American thinking and methodology, the lawsuit claims Escudero focuses on mainstream and dominant culture methods of treatment. The suit alleges Escudero has continuously implemented institutional racial discrimination and that the Gallup Indian Medical Center has done nothing to stop such instances.
