Refusal to Abide by the Provisions of HIPPA Wherein clinical and administrative staff at the Arizona State Hospital grossly violate federal law as a matter of standard practice by willfully denying patients access to medical records in order to hide their misconduct and criminal behavior.

      The Hospital Information Portability and Protection Act requires that hospitals release a patient's  own medical records anytime the individual requests such, and hospital administrations are expressly forbidden from refusing to release the records, as follows;

     Section 164.524: ACCESS OF INDIVIDUALS TO PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION. (a) Standard (1) Right of Access: Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (a)(2) or (a)(3) of this section, an individual has a right of access to inspect and obtain a copy of protected health information about the individual in a designated record set, for as long as the protected information is maintained in the designated record set... except for: (i) psychotherapy notes.

     There are a handful of related clauses to the above HIPPA standard, and it is a bit technical, classic policy mumbo-jumbo. But in the end, none of it amounts to granting the Arizona State Hospital any excuses whatsoever in terms of having denied me access to my medical records. State operated facilities such as the Arizona State Hospital are subject to the direct authority of several federal agencies in terms of issues relating to such enactments, including the above HIPPA document. I formally requested designated aspects of my personal medical records time and time again while hospitalized at the Arizona State Hospital, following all applicable procedures in this context, but my requests were flatly refused by a social worker named Megan Mischner on one occasion in spring 2011, Dr. Perviaz Ahkter in early summer, 2011, and by my last assigned social worker, by Mr. Robert Washington, in February, 2012. These refusals were mandated by ASH administrative officers, although in Dr. Ahkter's case, I believe he may have acted alone in the decision. 
     The most obviously criminal denial of my right to review records relating my care and treatment at the Arizona State Hospital arose in early April, 2011, when Dr. Ahkter made comments at one of my monthly inpatient treatment team conferences to the effect that nursing staff on the unit I was housed in at the time had reported my behavior in standard day to day notes as being (amongst other things) combative, grandiose, and generally in violation of hospital rules. At the time, I requested to see these nurses notes, because in my opinion at the time (and today), I am a civil and non disruptive individual in any reasonably legitimate setting, and I was very concerned to hear that unnamed nurses were making statements about me that I felt were patently untrue. Following the conference, I submitted a standard Arizona Department of Health Services records request form to Megan Mischner, as per applicable procedure, and was informed three weeks later by my assigned social worker at the time, Megan Mischner, that Dr. Ahkter had denied my request. In issuing this denial, Dr. Ahkter did not follow basic hospital and state procedures in his own right; and  
it is my contention that he issued the denial because the notes either did not exist in the first place (and that Dr. Ahkter had flatly lied about the existence of such notes), or that any said notes alleging negative behavior on my part had been reported by nurses who I had ongoing issues with relating to patient abuse (and would thus stand out from other nurses notes who both understood my concerns as well as offered their full moral support for my efforts in relation to reporting patient abuse). In any case, I had the express right to see these notes, as nurses notes are not a form of health information protected by any provisions of applicable law and policy, and Dr. Ahkter's refusal to cooperate with my good faith and lawful request was/is a direct violation of such law and policy. Bottom line. As such, Dr. Ahkter should have been held fully accountable at the time, because I went to a lot of trouble in the subsequent months to further my basic request through the appropriate channels, including the ASH patient advocate/ombudsperson, Sonya Serda, and then the  Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Grievance and Appeals, but each of these so called resources flatly refused to support my rights in this instance.
        In my experience as a patient who spent 13 full months at ASH and attempted on multiple occasions to participate in the clearly established process of participating in my own treatment ad representing myself in relation these sorts of matters, this sequence of events pretty clearly reflects standard practice at ASH, as well as throughout the affiliated agencies at the Department of Health Services. As such, I am today calling for a meaningful investigation of these matters by an objective authority, and I believe that anything short of a federal inquiry is bound to fail. Patients at the Arizona State Hospital will continue to be abused by nurses and technicians of the floors of the various units there and the in-hospital administrators will continue to look the other way, while any patient with the wherewithal to request assistance from the state agencies will run into the same brick walls that I ran into while hospitalized at ASH and am still running into today. This is how it is at ASH, it is wrong in every sense, and it needs to stop today.    
       I put in many long hours of dedicated effort in the hope of securing meaningful support for my concerns while a patient at ASH, from federal resources and beyond, and I cannot easily describe how deeply despairing it is to experience one closed door after another when one is being subjected to a constant barrage of clinical and administrative abuse. At various times during my "treatment" for depression at ASH, I experienced high anxiety, fear, and deep dismay for the welfare of not only myself but for all of us- the patients- and my depression in general was without doubt aggravated, for who wouldn't find graphic abuse of vulnerable adults depressing, frightening, and so on? The absolute lack of meaningful response to my expressed concerns while I was hopsitalized (at ASH) underlies the reality that mentally ill persons in state hospitals like ASH are systematically and unlawfully disqualified from receiving the same privileges and liberties that all American and human beings are due. It is blatant marginalization and patent discrimination. Bottom line.
      Now, I did at one point receive a little bit of assistance (in relation to accessing my own personal health records) from an "equal opportunity specialist" with United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (Region 9, San Francisco, CA) after I submitted a formal complaint with them in late 2011, which at the time was pretty encouraging; but to date, I've not heard anything more about it. Other past efforts to communicate with federal agencies and organizations while I was still hospitalized, including the United States Department of Justice, The American Civil Liberties Union, and The Joint Commission, all came to naught. The typical response from these agencies amounted to rejections that fell along the lines of scarce resources, and related advisement's that my clearly documented reports of administrative misconduct have no legitimate standing to because I was (and am still) alone in my expressions of concern about the conditions at ASH,. Please note that due to given circumstances of the high majority of ASH patients, wherein by virtue of their mental illness and related legal status they have no express right to engage in their own right in any sort of self advocacy, it was (and is today) virtually impossible for a patient like myself to include other patients in my own advocacy efforts.
            Fact) Inter-office memos and e-mails between all/any staff at public entities/institutions like the Arizona State Hospital are not protected from open public scrutiny. In my case today, these sorts of records are central to some of my own investigative efforts, and ASH administration is refusing to release any of these records to me. 
          Fact) Specific (personal) personal medical records, including nurses and physicians notes (with very few exceptions) are not to be withheld from any individual desiring such personal records. Here, too, I have very good reason to believe that I will find evidence in support of some of my fundamental allegations of clinical misconduct, but ASH administration is refusing to release any of these records to me.       
         Fact) By refusing to release my records, ASH is directly interfering with my effort to adequately prepare for this hearing, which amounts to blatant abridgments of my constitutional  rights in the context of due process and equal protection, and which is in violation of HIPPA and other fundamental federal standards of law and civil rights.
        Fact) I am currently trying to get the state to issue a subpoena in order to force the Arizona State Hospital to release aspects of my personal medical records that I intend to research and potentially utilize as evidence in support of allegations that I will be presenting against ASH in an upcoming (May 17, 2012) administrative hearing in Phoenix. I am testing the waters, as it were, and will before long know more about the quality of services in terms of the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings (www.azoah.com) 

        It should not be difficult in any capacity for patients in American hospitals to voice concerns about abuse or administrative misconduct. In the 13 months that I was a patient in the Arizona State Hospital, my experiences in this context were fraught with criminal abuses of authority and gross violations of established medical practice, as described in this account. I attest to the truthfulness of my statements, and am more than happy to share my documented evidence with anyone interested in learning more about the wrongdoing at ASH.
        It should likewise not be difficult for the citizens of this state and nation to come to the aid of the patients in the Arizona State Hospital by seeing that the ones responsible for their care operate within the law and respect fundamental standards of medical practice and health care. And yet here I am still, writing away over 12 months after I first began trying to advocate for myself, and still without any meaningful support. I am continuing my heartfelt mission to provide such aid in the only way I can today because it the right thing to do, and nobody else seems willing to take part. Please, if you can do anything: paoloreed@gmail.com.   
       MY NEW DISCLAIMER: I CLAIM NOTHING THAT I DO NOT HAVE SOLID DOCUMENTATION OF.

COMING SOON: WHAT I KNOW OF THE ILLICIT SUBSTANCES TRADE AT ASH, WHERE STAFF SMUGGLES IT IN AND SELLS IT TO THE MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS AT EXORBITANT PROFIT, WHICH ADMIN FULLY KNOWS ABOUT AND DOES NOTHING ABOUT (SECURITY HAS FREE LICENSE AT ASH- NOTHING ABUSIVE ABOUT THAT, HUH?). ALSO, I'VE NOT EVEN BEGUN TO APPLY THE VIOLATIONS OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT TO THIS ACCOUNTING. 

paoloreed@gmail.com