PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SUBSTANDARD PRACTICES AT THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL

Of the Beginning.

DATELINE: January, 2014. It is all about the book now. These people have continued to dig their graves in spite of my advising them in no uncertain terms that I will never let them get away with what I witnessed and experienced as an ASH patient. So on it goes, my writing as this situation continues to evolve, and the production of my manuscript. The vast majority of my earliest efforts to address the grossly substandard medical-mental health care practices and conditions at The Arizona State Hospital are coming to fruition, and are gibing virtually on point with my earliest predictions in the context, as per my understanding of applicable law and policy. The fact is, none of the one's running ASH for the last quarter century (and longer) are noticeably  intelligent, and while it far from my primary objective to identify such dynamics, when it comes to the administrators and senior clinicians at ASH, there is a related and undeniable dynamic that does have everything to do with fundamental ineptitude which in my observations more than borders of outright stupidity.  The following relates to one of my first post-ASH experiences, and stands as evidence to my work, as it has occurred since 2011. 

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 Public Announcement: Saturday, April 28, 2012: I've Been Granted The Opportunity To Speak This Upcoming Saturday At A Rally Relating To Contemporary Human Rights, On The Topic of Mental Patient Abuse At The Arizona State Hospital And In The Arizona Department Of Behavioral Health Services. Hope To See You There (sic).

       I had an interesting discussion with a doctorate level member of the Arizona behavioral health care system, who has extensive experience in both the public as well as private arenas in this state and elsewhere. As soon as I mentioned my contention that the abuse I saw at the Arizona State Hospital was exclusive in the sense that staff all at levels at ASH conducted themselves in ways that would never be acceptable in private hospitals, or any other like setting like facility where oversight and  accountability are required as per basic policy and law (including the Pima County, AZ, hospital that I was treated in for my first eight full months in 2010, pre-ASH), this fellow went into a very disturbing and well detailed  outline of various criminal acts that he had witnessed in the over the 12 not-so-long-ago years that he worked for the AZ behavioral health care network. Prior to Arizona, he had worked in state hospitals in Louisiana and Mississippi, and he made very clear that even in those critically poor states, the level of patient care eclipses the things he he witnessed and experienced while working for the state of Arizona. This was definitely not the first time that I heard a well educated and lucid assertion to this effect; it is, in fact, common knowledge to many people that I that have met in recent months, the fact that Arizona's behavioral health care system is one of the least up to date in the nation, statistically and practically. But this man is the first person I have personally met with so much direct experience in the field, and his related willingness to speak out about the deeply substandard level of practice displayed by the one's we rely upon to take care of the state's most vulnerable adults is sure to contribute to holding these people accountable sometime in the near future. 

        Not only did this decent hearted man offer the possibility of expert testimony when the time comes, he went on to describe a range of very well founded concerns that he has about gross immorality, lack of professional and administrative ethics, and outright criminal malpractice, which occurs at ASH, and beyond in the broader ADHS/BHS construct. These are issues that he became familiar through his friendship with a number of people who worked or still work at ASH, and as it turns out, we each do know more than one such person by name. Upon learning of my experiences at ASH and my current good faith efforts to address wrongdoing and substandard medical practices at ASH, he further described physician misconduct specific relating to past and ongoing investigations of ASH (including names/titles of ASH staff who I know all too well, either for good or not), and further stated his awareness of the fact that such persons have been engaging in this misconduct with no oversight whatsoever, as a matter of standard practice- and that they are getting away with it day in-day out.

        The poor man became so disillusioned with rampant and systemic problems in the state behavioral system that, for a time, he swore off having anything to do with public health care here in Arizona. But our meeting came about in relation to his volunteer work today in a local resource agency that I recently made acquaintance with, and as such, he is still contributing his skills to the best of his ability in an otherwise corrupt system of behavioral health care.

      As I have stated, while hospitalized at the Arizona State Hospital between January, 2011, and February, 2012, I was often shocked by the blatant ineptitude of staff at all levels of employ, but most disturbingly, in the case of doctors, nurses, and administrators, leading me to think, at times, that proving their respective roles in the graphic criminal issues there at ASH might be akin to taking candy from babies. And with all due respect for the treatment needs of my many friends at ASH, I am increasingly compelled to believe that even a seriously mentally ill person like myself, or any of them- my friends- will have a chance to take the issues associated with the various, high level staff that I have already talked about in this blog, when these issues make it the federal courts (if not sooner). 

        It will never be too late to get on board with this ongoing cause. Mentally ill adults are our family, neighbors, and fellows, and here in Arizona, the time has come for serious reform and civil revolution specific to issues connected with patient abuse at ASH and throughout the state behavioral health care system.

paoloreed@gmail.com