Statistical Update: The Arizona State Hospital and Patient Abuse




    







DEAR READERS: THE SITE NEEDS FOLLOWERS IN ORDER TO GENERATE MORE ENERGY AND CONNECTIONS TO OTHER ADVOCACY ENTITIES. PLEASE INDICATE YOUR INTEREST IN THIS BLOG AS A FOLLOWER WHERE INDICATED WHENEVER YOU VISIT. THANK YOU. 

As of close of business today, Feb. 13, 2013, this blog site has accrued 13,250 dedicated visits in just over ten full months, at an average of 40 such visits a day/1300 or so visits a month; and is comprised of 202 articles. And despite the fact that the flow of new data being added to the site has decreased by 60-70% in the last ninety days (this in order to preserve the integrity of the forthcoming manuscript), the flow of visitors has held true. I reckon, as such, that I must be doing something right  for a change.  

But as much as I might like to feel that it is my writing which most attracts readers to consider the information embodied in The Arizona State Hospital and Patient Abuse, I know better, in the sense that it is the nature of the subject matter that draws people to the table, and not my penmanship, per se'. Patient abuse and executive level corruption that occurs at the expense of Arizona's good faith tax-paying citizens, to the direct detriment of Arizona's most marginalized and at risk population, is sickening to the conscience. Indeed, this subject matter demands consideration, and it is the compassion of the human community as a whole, who try as we might may never rid ourselves of the scourge of brutality and inhumanity of only a few, and who reject the suggestion that any one element of our brethren be treated like dogs, that gives this blog its life. On this basis, my work will continue. As long as it takes. 

In terms of networking, I have granted formal permission to 9 different publishing sources who expressed a desire to cite specific data that I have thus far included on this blog site (4 university based sources [including both of my alma maters], 3 non-profit organizations, and 2 behavioral health care networks [outside of Arizona]), and the site itself is cross linked to no less than 15 other public interest and advocacy sites/organizations either partially or entirely dedicated to mental health issues and related concerns, in the United States, the UK, India, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and numerous other foreign nations. 

My articles specific to the smuggling and trafficking of illicit substances at ASH, which occurs because of a minority of ASH staff who are willing to criminally exploit ASH patients in this context, have consistently drawn the highest amount of attention. This is understandable. Common scumbag drug dealers in our communities are contemptible enough as it is, without having to accept the fact that at ASH, the addicted "costumers" of this racket are Arizona's most seriously mentally disabled citizens. The unlawful subjection of patients to egregiously organized crime such of this, wherein highly addictive substances (including but not limited to tobacco and other like carcinogens) are illegally smuggled into the Hospital by deeply immoral staff who are more than willing to exploit ASH patients at selling prices roughly 20 times the retail value (of tobacco at least, $5-6 per cigarette, or roughly $1000/carton), is definitely as shocking to the conscience as one might easily imagine. But please understand that as horrific as this issue is, it is far from the only matter of critical concern at ASH at this time, and does not in and of itself singularly illustrate how despicably substandard the conditions at ASH really are. The presence of ASH staff involved in this particular criminal act is only one graphically obvious example of the extent to which corruption and unlawful conduct exists at ASH, and directly relates to a host of issues that manifest most intensely due to the simple fact that ASH's highest ranking caretakers willfully condone these conditions. 

I am referring, above, to the role that administratively abusive/culpably negligent executive staff play in these issues (Cory Nelson, Donna Noriega, former ASH chief medical officer Dr. Steven Dingle, ASH' legal counsel, Joel Rudd), as well as to the presence of ethically depraved senior ASH clinicians (psychiatric physicians trained in places like Pakistan [Pervaiz Ahkter], the Philippines [Ruby Ramos-Roxas, Sylvia Dy] and India [Laxman Patel]), for these are the people most directly in violation of the public trust. Herein, you have administrative officers who are bound by the terms of the Hospital's accreditation (and their employment contracts with the state) to ensure that all state and federal laws specific to public health care facilities are strictly adhered to (and yet fail to do so); at least one lawyer representative from the office of the state Attorney General (and all that that implies, as AZ Attorney General Tom Horne himself continues to wiggle under the pressure of investigations from every direction); and licensed physicians who are obligated to strictly abide by the fundamental tenets of the hippocratic oath, as well as the terms of their professional licensure (and yet refuse to conduct themselves as such, in gross violation of well established health care ethics, law, and policy).  

At one my recent court sessions in the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings, assistant attorney general Joel "the mortician" Rudd attempted to diminish the established definition of the term "ABUSE". He did this in order to dissuade the judge in that particular case from granting merit to my contention(s) that the common forms of abuse at ASH include everything from administrative and clinical abuses of authority, abusive exploitation of patients' personal income (as seen with the staff conducted drug dealing at ASH), abusive exploitation of certain patients' actual diagnosis and behavioral characteristics (illustrated most clearly by staff who coerce violent patients into harassing, threatening, or physically harming other patients who staff resent, etc.), emotional abuse, psychological abuse, and of course, physical abuse, and so on. I mention Rudd's behavior at this time because in terms of the issues that I am working to expose and address at ASH, a high percentage of these issues fall well within the accepted definition of abuse, as expressed in various doctrines, including the Americans With Disabilities Act and other like federal mandates. But so far as administrative authorities such as Rudd are concerned, and the rest of ASH's executive level staff, in complicity with the highest ranking officials in Arizona's public health system, the full definition/meaning of abuse does not apply at The Arizona State Hospital. Rudd's manipulation of language in this sense is a bright line example of patent discrimination against ASH's clientele on the basis of their disabilities (you would never see this in medical settings not exclusively intended to serve mentally disabled patients, I attest to this from extensive practical experience and common sense), and vividly illustrates how and why the abuse of ASH patients does in fact occur, on a daily basis, at the hands of staff at all levels of employ. 

    The administrators and senior clinicians at The Arizona State Hospital are operating at a grossly substandard level of medical practice, and they are getting away with it! 

IN CLOSING: Thus, I ask that you, my readers, take to heart the fact that Arizona's sole long term public mental health facility is currently operating well outside the established expectations of the general public. Patient abuse in any context is highly illegal, and at ASH, abuse occurs in myriad forms as a matter of standard practice. This is unacceptable to anyone of reasonable conscience. Please see my December 19, 2012, "Resource Ideas" article, and determine in your own right how you can help defend the rights and care needs of Arizona's most seriously mentally ill adults. Likewise, if you have any suggestions at all, I will more than welcome them. I will take all the help I can get, hands down, because the wrongdoing at The Arizona State Hospital must be eliminated. End of story. 

NOTE: The tee-shirts shown above were created by patients at The Arizona State Hospital in 2012, and are the only two of a collection that I chose to take with me upon discharge. Creating them had to occur outside the view of ASH staff, for despite the fact that such expression is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, as well as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, senior staff at ASH do not allow for patients to express themselves in any number of ways, and particularly in the context of constructive criticism or any other like dissent, even if that dissent relates to patient abuse, which does for a fact occur at ASH.  

As I humbly requested at the beginning of this article, please indicate your interest in this blog as a FOLLOWER. There are no catches. I am not out to exploit anybody, and I am not seeking fiscal support, etc. But I do need your clear support, again, as followers. Thank you. PJ Reed.

paoloreed@gmail.com