Records, As they Stand.

I sent the following letter to Congressman Chad Campbell in late August, 2013, at that point in time when David Biscobing and the staff at Phoenix ABC affiliate Ch. 15 aired reports specific to former ASH Supervisor Cory Nelson's blatant failure to maintain reasonably safe operational practices that did in fact allow for numerous incidents of violence that caused great harm to staff and patients alike. As I have illustrated in previous articles, I reported the fact that Nelson had implemented major staff cutbacks (which were contributing to graphic escalations in violence while I was still hospitalized at ASH) , including with respect for ASH security staff, to the United States Department of Health and Human Services in January, 2012; but sadly, that report was not heeded, and in the subsequent 10-15 months, myriad occurrences arose that I contend were due to the incompetence of Cory Nelson, and his associated supervisors in the ADHS/BHS system, including ADHS Director Will Humble. At least one patient lost his life in relation to these issues, and dozens upon dozens of ASH staff and patients suffered irreparable harm, simply because of the fact that Nelson had unilaterally decided to reduce the number of ASH security with little to no feedback whatsoever from persons (staff) who posses vastly more experience at ASH, and in the field of behavioral health care in itself. Congressman Campbell initially expressed his concerns about these issues immediately following the above mentioned ABC Ch. 15 news reports, which did compel me to forward the following correspondence to him, and as per yesterday's article on this blog, I sent him a much more recent followup.

P-----  Santa Fe, NM 87505 paoloreed@gmail.com 

Congressman Chad Campbell 1700 West Washington, Room 320 Phoenix, AZ 85007 chcampbell@azleg.gov

RE: The Arizona State Hospital; Cory Nelson; ADHS/BHS etc.

Dear Congressman Campbell,
     I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for your decision to address the issues now affecting the patients and staff at The Arizona State Hospital. I am a former ASH patient myself, having discharged from there on Feb. 21, 2012, after 13 long months of treatment there, on the "civil side" of the facility, as per a cooperative civil court order that was issued in Pima County, in late 2011. As such, I was directed to ASH by my trusted/good doctor(s) at Tucson's University Medical Center- South Campus via a process that dictates such a reference under the status of "involuntary"; I mention this in order to illustrate my basic character, and to point out that in contemporary terms, there is no option for a citizen to "voluntarily" commit themselves to ASH; thus all/any patients admitted to ASH must be involuntarily committed as a matter of protocol.

     My primary diagnosis at the time of my admission is as follows: major depressive disorder, and associated traits, including acute suicidal ideation. I have never been diagnosed as psychotic, schizophrenic, delusional, or otherwise unable to express lucidity and related rationale and logic. My diagnosis today is essentially the same, less the acute suicidal ideation, but with several additional features; and as per my current psychiatric provider (post-ASH), is stated on my current outpatient treatment plan as follows: major depressive disorder (recurrent), mild to moderate post-traumatic stress and associated anxiety-sleep disorder (in remission). I have no need to be dramatic in stating the simple fact that my attendant PTSD-anxiety today has everything to do with my experiences while hospitalized ASH; and it is important to note, too, that I was hospitalized in Tucson area psychiatric wards for 8 full months pre-ASH, and at no time during that period was I subjected to the levels of stress and related therapeutic detriment that I experienced at ASH (I will elaborate shortly).

     I am very well educated, with a BA in American Studies (UNM 1996, magna cum laude); an MA in American Indian Studies (UA 2000); and two full years of law in good standing, (UA James Rogers College of Law 2001-2003). I have little in the way of a criminal history (misdemeanor DUI 1999, Alb. NM), and during the entirety of my time hospitalized I engaged in no unlawful activity whatsoever, which is reflected in my formal medical records. Again, I am offering a preliminary introduction of sorts in the hope that you will come to realize that seriously mentally ill persons are not inherently immoral-unethical, unintelligent, of criminal attitude and mind, and so on. Many of the patients I came to know at ASH have no formal criminal background outside of conflicts with law enforcement authorities arising specifically in relation the persons given mental illness, if any such conflicts, period. You likely know that some majority of persons affected by serious mental illness do come into conflict with law enforcement at some point of their life, but I have come to learn that this is not tantamount in any sense to such persons being of valid criminal intent, including violent behavioral characteristics and so on. The fact is, many of the patents at ASH are not violent. Bottom line, and that includes myself.

     That said: I attest to the fact that during the whole of my time at ASH, I witnessed and was personally subjected to a range of grossly unlawful abuse, negligence, and associated administrative ineptitude that amounted to nothing short of counter therapeutic treatment. I was forced from my very first day at ASH to advocate for what I recognized to be my most fundamental rights as a citizen, medical patient, and human being, in direct relation to my care needs as a member of the patient community at ASH. OVer the first few months of my time at ASH, I was overwhelmed by omnipresent forms of very unlawful emotional, psychological, and physical abuse that was effectively imparted by some ASH staff at every level of employ; and as time progressed, and the worst impacts of my depression subsided somewhat (in site of the shortfalls in my flow of treatment at ASH), I increasingly took a renewed interest in my immediate environment. This led (necessarily) to me increasingly voicing dissent and disagreement specific to the rampant presence of abusive misbehavior imposed on me and my patient peers by some ASH nurses, technicians, and doctors; dissent which I presented via formal grievance reports (as per the standard form ASH/ADHS Grievance and Complaint document), and open communication in this context with my primary attending psychiatrist. My intent from the get go was good faith, civil, and as per the specific protocols available to all/any Arizona citizen(s) receiving services at ASH and/or the Arizona Department of Health/Behavioral Health Services.

     For this, I was almost immediately retaliated against by ASH some staff at all levels of employ, including but not limited to my primary attending psychiatrist, and administrative staff, including the Hospital's chief medical officer (at the time), as well ASH's chief operating officer (at the time). Such retaliation flies in the face of established law and policy, including the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), and I knew it at time time. During the first 4-6 months of my time at ASH, I also acquired a reasonable body of learned information and knowledge specific to the Arizona Administrative Code specific to persons affected by serious mental illness (SMI), as contained in AAC Title 9, Chapter 21. My willingness to advocate for myself and my patient-peers caught the attention of at least one very dedicated staff member of the ADHS/BHS Office of Human Rights, a senior level advocate-investigator named John Gallagher, who has since left ADHS and is now engaged in the doctorate program in sociology at ASU. Mr. Gallagher supplied me with full copies of the above mentioned legal material, as well as the Hospital Information Portability and Protection Act (HIPPA), and he made clear to me that my presence at ASH was highly usual in terms of my education and related interest in public interest concerns.

     Throughout the entirety of my time at ASH, I journaled voluminously about my day to day experiences (with particular attention to my specific flow of clinical treatment), drafted countless correspondence to state and federal authorities (inc. but not limited to ASH administrators, ADHS/BHS representatives [inc. WIll Humble]; the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (DHHS-OCR), the US Department of Justice Division of Civil Rights, and so on), submitted numerous ASH/ADHS grievance reports, and went around the mountain in terms of carefully documenting and saving each and every detail of this process as it played out. I maintained a vigilant commitment to keeping all such records, for as my 13 full months of time at ASH transpired, I learned and then learned again- and again, etc.- that no aspect of my willingness to report the expansive wrongdoing at ASH was going to be heeded in anything resembling meaningful response and redress. It was as surreal an atmosphere and environment as I can imagine encountering, and I would not wish it on my worst perceived enemy. I mean that. The state employees directly responsible for the operation of ASH are doing so at a level of graphically substandard mental-medical care and practice, and they are getting away with it. And the citizens most impacted by those conditions are ASH's seriously mentally ill and disabled patients.

     With last statement in mind, I ask that you consider the bare bones fact(s) that The Arizona State Hospital IS A HOSPITAL, and the persons most deserving of reasonable service at ASH are the patients. In this context, ASH is not a corrections facility (although there is a presence of patients who were referred to ASH via the legal system, most of whom undergo treatment in the "forensics" section of ASH [I was treated in the "civil" section], but even there, one will find a number of seriously mentally ill adults with histories including very violent issues). As the Phoenix based ABC affiliate (Ch 15) has accumulated and reported factual details specific to deep cuts in security staff at ASH, and related violence that now poses direct threat to the safety of ASH staff, and so on, I have witnessed a very clear absence of the fact that all/any comprehensive shortfalls at ASH ultimately land squarely on the heads of ASH's patients (although, I ask that you pay attention to statements of Ch 15 expert, the psychologist with experience in supervising mental care facilities, whose testimony was included in CH 15's most recent news reports, for he makes this point clear). I also can attest to the fact that I literally reported the potential risks posed by the pending security cuts immediately before those cuts were implemented, in fact, this while I was still hospitalized at ASH, in a standard form US DHHS report that I directed to the agency's San Francisco office in late 2011).

    Likewise, I have collaborated with Ch 15 reporter David Biscobing for the last 4-5 months (and others in AZ media and beyond). He initially contacted me last spring in direct relation to a blog that I began writing shortly after my discharge from ASH. (PJ Reed "The Arizona State Hospital and Patient Abuse" [blogspot.com]). As such, I have remained dedicated to exposing and relatedly addressing the endemic substandard conditions at ASH, a process that began when I was at ASH; and through the publication of my blog, a variety of sources have contacted me, including David Biscobing. Likewise, I have successfully networked with a range of state and national level mental and human rights advocacy groups, and I am somewhat well known today in those circles (it is a small fraternity, however- there is simply not a lot of interest in the realities that have long existed in facilities like ASH). But my work is far from over, for I know today as well as I did while hospitalized at ASH, that the senior clinicians (psychiatric doctors, and some nurses), in complicity with ASH and ADHS/BHS administrators, and with the full support of Joel Rudd, who is a staff attorney with the AZ Office of the Attorney General. Rudd has been assigned the task of overseeing ASH's legal status and related activities for over 15 years and even has a full time office right there on the Hospital grounds, and as such, has been at the table each and every time formal policy and practices have been implemented by ADHS/ASH administrators; his role includes defending ASH's practices anytime someone such as I (a citizen) raises issues via the formal grievance process, and through my involvement in this context, I attest to Rudd's willingness to further the illegal practices at ASH, including in the context of physical and psychological abuse. I was subjected to it personally on at least 4 occasions, and it was shocking to experience, particularly given my legal training. The fact is, the formal administrative process by which any ASH patient is granted a window to report such misconduct is so grossly disproportionate that no such patient/citizen has any chance of prevailing; this applies even when said grievance includes good faith language and related documentation requesting nothing other than meaningful attention, with nothing other than the hope of good faith resolution-as all of my formal grievances have been structured.      

    In terms of this process, Rudd (as an attorney and representative of the AG) has more authority/knowledge base over the overall proceeding that the assigned administrative law judges do, and although he wields this authority and associated responsibility,  it is clear from my experiences at ASH that this highly trusted legal authority has long turned a blind eye to the endemic shortfalls to the operation of ASH, in graphic defiance of his obligations and requisite responsibilities to Arizona citizens, as a whole, the process reformation process as it stands today has yet to bring man's wrongdoing to light; which I also believe/know is in clear violation of his duties as an licensed attorney, in essence. Joel Rudd  knows this. And I can prove it. .

    At this point, I am going to provide you some basic information about Cory Nelson, the ASH supervisor hired by Will Humble in summer, 2011. As such, Nelson took over the helm at ASH when I was roughly half way through my hospitalization there. I was by then well on my way in terms of doing what I could to advocate for the rights and care needs of myself and my various patient peers at ASH, and I had nothing but the greatest of hopes when I immediately reached out to this man in the hope that he would have an interest in the insidious presence of clinical malpractice and associated patient abuses, the details of which I shared with him in a personal letter that I pointed his way as soon as he took over. He ignored that correspondence, however, in a very specific manner-method, but that is another story for the moment (I of course, have it documented).

1) Nelson left his former post in South Dakota under a relative could of suspicion, as reported in the following Yankton Press & Dakotan newspaper; subsequent to which, Will Humble hired him to take over ASH. In the context of this report, and my experiences and related sense of the man's character basically, I am convinced that Nelson is grossly unqualified to work as one of Arizona's most highly paid health care servants, in any position or capacity. The full article is online.

HSC Pay Raise Sparks Questions Administrator Receives $10,000 Increase
Posted: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 12:00 am
By Nathan Johnson
nathan.johnson@yankton.net
In a year when the South Dakota Legislature opted to not give state employees a salary bump, the decision to give a local official a pay increase has some people raising their eyebrows. In an effort to retain South Dakota Human Services Center (HSC) Administrator Cory Nelson, a state Department of Human Services (DHS) official said Nelson was given a $10,000 boost in April.

2) At some point following being hired, the following website was created. I honestly have no idea of who is behind it, but I immediately suspected it was Nelson himself. However, as the following postings and comments to the site illustrate, it has done anything but represent positive information about the man, as you can see. I have also shared my feelings pin this site, and at least 2 of my comments are included below. The site is still up, as far as I know.
the Crazy Cory Corner SEE www.crazycorycorner.weebly.com Comments.
   -04/16/2012
techs are being told that they "have to" work overtime or change shifts whenever. Doesnt seem to matter if they have kids or other jobs to pay bills. If they get sick and call off managers are asking for notes from the doctor different than what policy is. Techs are scared to say anything because they need there jobs. Just because things are rough out there doesn't mean cory nelson should be taking advantig of people.
Bullies create bullies remember that.
   -RH 04/17/2012 1:40pm Is he seriously considering hiring one of the supervisors for an investigator job after being responsible for so many eeoc complaints? Very poor judgement! Reply
yankton 
   -06/22/2012 4:00pm 
"You should contact a few employees from his previous employer I am sure you would hear a lot.
   -Aftermath 06/26/2012 11:46pm
We are still dealing with the damage he caused in Yankton. He proved he could reduce restraint use by removing them, not giving any care for the increased injury to staff. His gestapo regime is still terrorizing staff. Our only saving grace is that his replacement has been hired and he will hopefully clean house and make our hospital safe again. My prayers go out to Arizona. You guys are in need of help.   -Red Rider 02/10/2013 5:39pm
Cory brought over from South Dakota his butt buddy Don Whitmire who is an arrogant looking rat. Now they have created a position for him downtown. It practically takes an act of congress to hire unit staff. It is corrupt here. Bad. 
   -Injured 07/06/2012 7:07am
now if you get hit you cant get help, staff assisting someone on the ground get attacked now to becuz there isn't enuf staff around. Its gotten very scary. 
   -07/07/2012 8:08pm
Since when is it ok to be forced to work 24 hours? Working as a temp employee, filling in for the regular staff, which only increases the dangerous situations for other staff members and residents. Wonder why there is an increase in aggresive behavior by staff towards residents. Stems from lack of sleep and increased fear for their jobs. Police reports not only for agressive behavior by residents against residents it includes staff towards residents where things get turned around on residents to make it ok for staff to create unsafe environments.Residents attacking other residents more than 7 times, which get reported to administration, and nothing happens to keep the residents and the staff safe. When residents defend themselves, since no previous action to keep safe by administration, the resident then face jail and or prison time. This is suppose to be a safe environment for residents and especially for staff, unfortunately for the forced overtime and poor work ethics of the administration it is far from safe.
   -PJ Reed 07/08/2012 1:42am
Staff: I cannot easily tell you all how much this concerns me. I mean it when I say that I care just as much about you as I do myself and my fellow (former) patient-peers there at ASH. I only wish there were a direct line of support that i could throw your way. There isn't, of course, because the admin keep that whole operation tight as a slipknot, and I am running into the same blatant denials of reality now that I am in the process of taking some of my concerns into the state's minor legal courts. Trust me, if I were in this of myself, I would and most definitely could have sued long before now. But that is of topic. Keep the communication rolling, because that is your best avenue in terms of getting this b.s. cleared up. I mean this too- contact your elected state and federal representatives, and make it clear to them that these issues are as alive and well as I try to make clear in my blog: PJ Reed The Arizona State Hospital and Patient Abuse. Also, please believe me when I tell you that I know many, many of you do your best and and do indeed care for your patients, so please don't necessarily take my writing personally. I have to remain honest in my writing, and I do have very strong feelings about those staff who are not up to the task of working at ASH because they are too subhuman to sincerely care about weaker, vulnerable persons. Hang in there, make your concerns made, and contact me anytime. I am on your side, I know it is against your training and so on, but it is true. I care.
   2 FRIGHTENED 07/12/2012 8:12pm
I FINALLY HAD TO QUIT. MY REG UNIT WAS GOOD BUT THEY KEPT FLOATING ME OVER TO THE BAD CIVIL UNIT. I AND OTHERS KEPT GETTING ATTACKED IT'S LIKE OPEN SEASON ON TECHS THERE NOW AND THEY DO NOTHING. TOO MUCH FLASHBACKS AND TERROR FOR ME TO STAY. SORRY TO ABANDON YOU -THE FRIENDS THAT I LEFT. THERE ISN'T ENOUGH STAFF AND NO MORE SECURITY GUARDS TO HELP.
LAST WEEK ANOTHER AWOL AND DIDN'T HE TRY TO KILL HIS DAD BEFORE GOING TO ASH?? WHERE ARE THE STAFF AND GUARDS? 
   PJ REED 07/20/2012 2:47pm
Again, the administrators at ASH are up to no good. And from all appearances at this moment, they have failed to take into consideration the threat to public safety, presumably so as to avoid scrutiny and accountability in the face of clear administrative shortcomings. I am very sorry to hear of your need to leave your position with the state, and I hope that you do everything you can to make clear to your elected officials why this has come about. Likewise, get that story about the AWOL out to the local press before this individual does somebody in the community harm. You are under no threat of reprisal now, and you have both the right to speak up and the obligation to do your fellow citizens at least this much good, given your unique status today and the knowledge that you do have about these matters. It is your time to shine.
   Former security officer 08/06/2012 1:42am

Since I left I have heard stories of more assaults. I got out at the right time, and am doing well in my new career. I still keep in touch with many of my old coworkers, and consider many of them to be good friends. Until the good old boys network is broken up there, I'm afraid nothing will ever change.
   2 FRIGHTENED 2 SAY 08/18/2012 6:05am
ASH CLAIMING ON THE NEWS (CHANNEL 3) THAT ASSAULTS HAVE GONE DOWN. LIARS!! WORSE THAN EVER! WHY DOESN'T JACO OR MEDICARE LOOK AT EMPLOYEE TURNOVER RATE?
   08/21/2012 9:02am
Of course ASH administration will do everything to cover their asses. Very disappointed in the extreme lack of investigative reporting done on behalf of ASH employees and patients alike. If chanel 3 did even half of their job in reporting they wouldn't have reported the extreme amount of mistruths given by Cory Nelson. Obviously the news doesn't know about this website someone should point the reporter in the right direction and show the error of the story reported on the news.   
  DK 01/12/2013 6:20pm
Why was abc news here this week? They talked to Cory Nelson but of course can't talk to employees. We'd be fired if we told them the truth. Cory and the overpaid over-abundant hospital administration would stop at nearly nothing to find out who talked to them. I'm sure Cory told them how safe it is and how wonderful things are running. Not that staff are being used as punching bags DAILY!! How much money is being spent on workman's comp for injuries and staff leave time? How much money for staff turnover? How much money for vulnerable patients staying longer because they can't get better in an environment they feel terrified too?   
   Red Rider 02/10/2013 5:29pm
ABC News was there because this Monday Night, they will be doing an investigative report on all the security cuts. Reply
   Red Rider 02/10/2013 5:34pm
Over at the ACPTC they have a surveillance unit. Their manager's husband use to work for MCSO and got hurt. He was given a big pension, however, he cannot work. But he runs a six figure a year landscaping business under her name.they hire illegals. People over there tell me she brags about it all of the time.   
   Red Rider 02/10/2013 5:36pm
Cory brought over from South Dakota his butt buddy Don Whitmire who is an arrogant looking rat. Now they have created a position for him downtown. It practically takes an act of congress to hire unit staff. It is corrupt here. 
   PJ REED 07/12/2013 11:57am
STAFF: Keep up the good work, and do not give up advocating on your own behalf with the hope of seeing that Cory Nelson, Donna Noriega, Joel Rudd (AZ Attorney General's office- the most powerful law firm in the state defends ASH admin. anytime reports specific to these matters arise- he is ready dangerous to all of us!), and each and every other person in power at ASH and throughout ADHS/BHS are held fully accountable for their clear wrongdoing. It is very big challenge, for this is all very close to the top of the food chain in AZ, but trust me when I say that these people are not nearly so out of reach as I know it appears to you, and their time is coming. I attest to this from the heart, for I directly involved in seeing that this goes down, and as a former ASH patient, I refuse to give up in my own right. But please do not forget that when it comes to these issues, the ultimate victims are ASH's seriously mentally ill clientele, for they are the ones at the absolute bottom of said food chain. In this sense, we are all in this together. Peace and Frogs to all of you.
-------------------------------
CONT. 
     Congressman Campbell: It is clear, indeed, that Cory Nelson in himself poses a very unjust burden on the patients and staff at ASH, at the direct expense of AZ taxpayers. I see no reason at all to divorce the presence of ADHS director Will Humble in terms of Nelson's presence in the AZ landscape today, for not only did Humble hire Nelson, he has always been the man's immediate boss (and is responsible for Nelson's recent promotion!), which belies that fact that any major alterations or developments in the operation at ASH during Nelson's time as supervisor fall directly under the authority of Humble. Please keep this mind.
     Likewise, and more importantly, the patterns of patient abuse and related clinical shortfalls at ASH have been existence there for many, many years. Given the crisis in mental health care now acknowledged at the national level, I feel there is critical need for Arizona's citizens to take a good hard look at the substandard conditions in the state's some one term public mental health care facility. I attest to the fact that the care providers with the most authority over ASH's seriously mentally ill and disabled patient community- the psychiatrists, namely Dr. Pervaiz Akhter (from Pakistan), Dr. Ruby Rojas-Ramos (the Philippines), Dr. Laxman Patel (India, and now AHS's chief medical officer, with more years at ASH than any other doctor)- are the core reason for why persons in the highest offices at ASH are so willing to ignore fundamental ethics and common sense civic duty, for ASH has long functioned under an insidious system of status quo that extends well into as well as far beyond all aspects of the facility's basic operation. And in this overall equation, those stakeholders most deserving the requisite services that ASH is supposed to provide are at the absolute bottom of the ding heap. The patients, that is, who are arguably representative of modern society's most marginalized population. It is common knowledge that seriously mentally ill and disabled persons are highly vulnerable to neglect, expatiation, and abuse. At ASH, there primary dynamics are alive and well, and as per my experiences, accumulated data, and related testimony, I can illustrate this fact well beyond reasonable doubt.

IN CLOSING:
    My credibility across the board is sound, and any number of persons who know me well- including the good doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center- south campus- can and will confirm this. (My Pima County primary care psychiatrists during my 8 months pre-ASH are Dr. Rhodes and Dr. Stoker, and they know what I have been up to in the last 2 years, and they support me 100%, for they know of ASH's shortfalls, too). Likewise, my full scholarship to the UA college of law was afforded me on the basis of established public service, and related letters of direct recommendation. On a related note, I know that you are aware of the tragic shooting of Phoenix attorney Mark Hummels last January, and lily have some idea of his character as an attorney and person. Mark was my best friend, since we attended and became friends while attending UA law, 2001-2003, and he in fact was my sole personal visitor at ASH; and I am still today close to his widow, Dana, and two children, Emma and Henry. Also, of note, I did contact several AZ lawmakers lover the last 2 years, namely Congressman Grijalva (who deferred to Phoenix area reps), and more recently, Krysten Sinema. But you are the first such authority to rise to the cause, and I am very happy to correspond with at this time. 
    In this context, I am more than willing to provide you with anything I can offer. I am, in fact, asking you to bring me into the mix as you move forward in this matter. I have extensive data relating to a range of issues that underlie basal corruption which extends well outside of the walls and fence lines at ASH, and yet has everything to do with how and why ASH administrators have been able to get away with their wrongdoing, to date. I am not dedicated to these issues for any clear sense of personal gain, but I do feel as though I am meeting a very critical need, and through this, I do have a renewed sense of meaning and purpose today. Which, of course, is good for me in terms of my health and wellness, in general. Ironically, and in spite of the grossly substandard conditions at ASH, I did find something along the lines of healing there- but it had little to nothing to do with the available flow of treatment at ASH. And I know today that I may be able to contribute as much or more crucial data specific to the grossly unlawful conditions at ASH.
   I have said it already and will continue to say it until such a time as the matter is meaningfully addressed: The Arizona State Hospital is operating at a dismally substandard level of medical-mental health care and they are getting away with it. This is unacceptable. I am confident that you agree.

Thank you. Sincerely, PJ Reed.
------------------------------------------------------

I am going to maintain my intent to ensure that all investigative developments specific to the substandard conditions and care practices at The Arizona State Hospital be taken to the level of direct federal intervention, oversight, and clear accountability. The possibility of a state managed audit is well and good, except for the fact that these issues stem directly from state authorized wrongdoing; for what is the merit of having the state investigate itself in this context? It is a proven fact that some of Arizona's highest ranking public health officials are deeply involved in the presence of these issues as they stand, persons such as lawyer Joel Rudd, for example employed by the state in an office as powerful as that of the AZ Attorney General. The implications of these issues as they stand demand far more attention and redress than that offered by a state managed audit, and I will do everything I can to see that appropriate measures are taken in terms of holding such state authorities accountable to the full measure of applicable law. 

IN CLOSING: I encourage anybody of like mind to take action in your own right on behalf of the 290 or so seriously mentally ill and disabled patients who who currently being subjected to graphic  mis-treament at The Arizona State Hospital. These issues are of critical importance to the public interest, for the ASH patients are our fellow citizens, at a minimum, while possibly our own relatives, and so on. Human beings, in other words, affected by very real illness that has likely decimated their lives in some form or another. There is no justification or excuse for allowing the one's running ASH to get away with furthering the traumatic affects of serious mental illness, versus meeting their most fundamental obligations to Arizonans as a whole. 

paoloreed@gmail.com