Power of the Pen: As to ongoing communication with media.

The following is an excerpt from recent correspondence between myself and one specific media source, as the grossly substandard conditions at The Arizona State Hospital continue to gain attention from such sources. The fact is, this issue has only been reported in local to Phoenix media, for the most part, as illustrated in yesterday's story, published and aired via Phoenix area ABC CH. 15 (see: "Feds return to state mental hospital after failed inspection). But that is about to change. The following relates to the May, 2011, escape of ASH patient Jesus Murietta, and the fact that my good faith and lawful efforts to bring public awareness of his presence in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area were retaliated against once ASH administrators became aware of my efforts in the context. The document itself has been shared by all aspects of my current network over the last 48 hours, and has acquired very satisfying response. Rat Bastards beware.      

"I did as a matter of documented fact report that escape to AZ Republic reporter JJ Hensley about 5 days after it occurred, from there in ASH, and when he contacted Hospital admin., they patently denied that (any) escapes had occurred. There was in fact no duly hired supervisor at ASH at that time, and I know for a fact that current ASH CEO Donna Noriega was centrally involved, as was ASH's on-site primary legal counsel, Joel Rudd, and the then acting Chief Medical Officer at ASH, Dr. Steven Dingle,; and any other ASH staff aware of this issue as it evolved (and who nonetheless refused to share these facts with the public, in spite of their awareness in the context), for as it was expressed a full half century ago by Martin Luther King, Jr., when speaking out in defiance of abject racist practices, discriminations, and graphic violence against African American and other like Americans of color:

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.... Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity".

On the basis of that fact that ASH administration flatly lied about the occurrence of the actual escape when they were asked about it, and Hensley's inability to confirm my report at the time, he had to let it go- as a source I was, after all, a mentally ill man undergoing "treatment" at ASH.... When I heard about the murder of Ms. Mott 90 or so days later, and saw Murietta's photo in the Republic, I recontacted Hensley and literally stated "Hey, remember the guy I told you had escaped from ASH last May? You know, the escape that ASH denied? Well, he's on the cover of your paper today!" Following that call, Hensley came to interview me at ASH on two separate occasions,  and the information that I shared with him in those meetings were the meat of  his Sept. 29, 2011, four page feature story that he published once he was able to confirm all elements of my shared data (see: "Victim's Family Questions Why Man Was Free", by JJ Hensley, Arizona Republic newspaper). Likewise, once ASH admin. realized that I had provided Hensley with this information, I was systematically retaliated against by my primary attending psychiatrist, Dr. Pervaiz Akhter, in clear complicity with then ASH chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Dingle, and none other than Cory Nelson himself. I was in fact transferred from the most reasonably "safe" unit on the civil side of ASH (Palo Verde east unit, where as per my est. behavioral characteristics and assoc. care needs I had been placed as per the direct referral of my Tucson doctor, David Stoker, of Univ. of AZ Medical Center south campus) to the most violent (Desert Sage east unit). This retaliation was most definitely imparted upon me in reaction to my having exercised my right (on  a number of occasions to that point in my 13 months at ASH) to openly report the rampant presence of patient abuse etc., which is in graphic violation of state and federal law, and which I strongly contend represents discrimination in all senses,  inc. the American's With Disabilities Act. I do have all assoc. documentations of these sorts of these matters, for I did file related grievance reports and a number of correspondences with state and federal agencies, and kept all copies of materials given to me while I was there at ASH, while also maintaining very detailed notes of my daily experiences. etc. And I am certain that one in your position can easily verify what I am sharing with you, be it through contacting Hensley, Dr. David Stoker, etc; as well as a former AZ/BHS human rights advocate  who attempted to act on my behalf on several occasions while I was at ASH, is 100% aware with my experiences in the context of said retaliation, and who is now in a doctorate program at ASU (we have remained in direct contact, and he has always expressed a willingness to contribute to my work, a really outstanding young man of stellar character and uber-compotency in terms of experience and expertise). I also have all records of my various communications with representatives of the US Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, the Joint Commission, and other like entities whom I did request the assistance of while I was an ASH patient. If there is anything I can offer to help that process, just let me know."

IN CLOSING: Sometime in the latter few months of my time of as a patient in The Arizona State Hospital, I made the following comment to an staff behavioral health technician named Luke: "I am going to rip this Hospital a new asshole once I get out of here...." Crude, to say the least, but I had by then accrued so much awareness (and related evidential material) of the grossly unlawful misconduct of virtually every senior clinical and administrative staff that I was- to put it mildly- downright disgusted to my core, and this only stands as an example of my own "worst" behavior as an ASH patient. Luke, if you are reading this, I do apologize for my foment and language at the time (Luke is in fact one of the better techs that I encountered at ASH, one of several- and they know exactly who they are). But it also need be said that I had by that point in time developed the distinct intent to do all that I can in order to address these issues and bring the wrongdoing of ASH staff to an end, once and for all, and at times could barely contain my deepest frustrations in this sense. Herein, as this blog and my related efforts show, clear evidence in support of the fact that any American willing and able to exercise their voice, including in a manner that directly reflects the American ideal- power of the pen personified- can make a difference in relation to any conscientious action(s) that can contribute to improving our national health and well being. 

paoloreed@gmail.com

      

Arizona State Hospital: Feds return to state mental hospital after failed inspection. 

    "On January 17 (2014), a patient was able to steal an employee’s badge, use it to get out of his unit, get past security checkpoints and enter another wing of the hospital where he violently assaulted another patient, sources said. The attacked patient was supposed to be under constant watch by two staff members to protect him from himself and others. The patient who escaped his unit also assaulted a second patient in November. That assault sent the victim to the hospital for almost two weeks with serious injuries. Both incidents highlight deficiencies the hospital was supposed to fix..."  (see below)

Posted: 01/29/2014
Last Updated: 19 hours and 46 minutes ago

•  By: Dave Biscobbling

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/Arizona-State-Hospital-Feds-return-to-state-mental-hospital-after-failed-inspection#ixzz2rw0gmTnQ

PHOENIX - Inspectors returned to Arizona’s state mental hospital this week to determine if the facility has corrected serious deficiencies that put the lives of patients at risk.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is threatening to pull the Arizona State Hospital’s certification after failing a September inspection that was triggered by an ABC15 report. If the hospital loses certification, it will also lose millions of dollars in federal reimbursements.

Multiple sources confirmed that CMS was at the hospital. The visit comes after releasing a scathing 46-page report about their last inspection.

A few of the key findings:

• The hospital has “systemic problems” with nursing care. Inspectors found there was a “failure to ensure that the number of RNs and other personnel met the facility’s pre-determined staffing requirements to provide for patients’ safety and care needs for 9 of 9 patients who sustained self-inflicted injury, assaulted others, or were assaulted by other patients.”
• The hospital “endangers” the lives of patients. In the past several months, inspectors discovered the state hospital failed to properly care for six patients, who all required constant supervision. One of those patients was Chris Blackwell, who died after the hospital failed to prevent him from swallowing dangerous objects and then didn’t give him proper medical care.

Click here to see the full inspection report.

In November, state officials filed an official plan of correction. A federal spokesperson told ABC15 that CMS has accepted the hospital’s plan but will make unannounced visits to “ensure the promised improvements have been made.”

The ABC15 Investigators have learned of several recent safety and security lapses that cast serious doubt that some of the most serious deficiencies have been corrected.

On January 17, a patient was able to steal an employee’s badge, use it to get out of his unit, get past security checkpoints and enter another wing of the hospital where he violently assaulted another patient, sources said. The attacked patient was supposed to be under constant watch by two staff members to protect him from himself and others. 

The patient who escaped his unit also assaulted a second patient in November. That assault sent the victim to the hospital for almost two weeks with serious injuries.

Both incidents highlight deficiencies the hospital was supposed to fix.

State health and hospital officials have not gotten back to ABC15 with details about the January 17 incident. They’ve also declined to comment about the ongoing CMS inspection case.

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/Arizona-State-Hospital-Feds-return-to-state-mental-hospital-after-failed-inspection#ixzz2rw0z9dea

DARE LINE SUMMER 2011: As I have reported in numerous articles in this blog, in late May, 2011, a patient named Jesus Murietta violently escaped The Arizona State Hospital in precisely the same fashion that the details in the above article provide, an escape that was subsequently and willfully covered up by ASH administrators and senior clinical staff, leading as a matter of irrefutable fact the brutal murder of an in innocent young Phoenix woman named April Mott. Likewise, when I exercised my civil right to openly report the cover up of the escape itself 5 days after it occurred, the attempt of AZ Reporter JJ Hensley to confirm this fact was patently rejected (denied) be ASH administrators. And for my efforts in the context, I was subjected to systematic retaliation imparted upon me by ASH's highest ranking administrative staff, including but not limited to staff sanctioned assaults on me by ASH patients who were exploited (as hit men, of a sort), in order to further the staff wrongdoing at ASH. Following Ms. Mott's death, in relation the associated investigation and four page feature article published in late September, 2011 (see "Victim's Family Questions Why Man Was Free", by JJ Hensley, Arizona Republic, 09/29/11), former ASH supervisor Cory Nelson formally stated the claim that ASH was not required to make Murietta's escape as per patient privacy law and policy, declaring that patients who are not court ordered to ASH ("voluntary", as I was for the latter half my time at ASH) are free to leave ASH at anytime, and as per the details underlying Murietta's violent escape, under any given circumstances. As such, it has been proven that ASH administrators, including ASH primary legal counsel, Joel Rudd, willfully manipulate/distort the purpose(s) and applicability of such policy by hiding behind  associated federal law- in this case, the Hospital Information Portability Act- which I contend is a flagrant violation of any/all so affected ASH patient's most fundamental civil rights, and occurs in graphic defiance of the public trust. There is no justification whatsoever for the willful decision of ASH administrators to ignore the grave risk posed to the greater public by Murietta's escape in to the Phoenix metropolitan area, and herein lies one more bright line example of how grossly substandard the ASH operation is, in all senses.     I attest to the fact that all facets of this history are standard practice at ASH, for during the entirety of my 13 long months at ASH I witnessed and was personally subjected to these forms of wrongdoing on a significantly regular basis, and do as a matter of my accrued data extend well into the offices of ADHS/BHS, the Arizona Office of the Attorney General, and beyond.

paoloreed@gmail.com

#4 As To Patient Safety, Or Lack Thereof, At The Arizona State Hospital.

THIS IS RERUN OF AN ARTICLE THAT WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THIS BLOG IN APRIL, 2012, WHICH I OFFER AT THIS TIME IN ORDER TO CONFIRM THE FACT THAT ALL DETAILS SPECIFIC TO MY REPORTING THE ISSUE OF STAFF SANCTIONED RETALIATION ARE ACCURATE, RETALIATION THAT ASH PATIENTS  ARE UNDENIABLY SUBJECTED TO SHOULD THEY OPENLY EXPRESS DISSENT ABOUT THE GROSSLY SUBSTANDARD HEALTH CARE PRACTICES AND CONDITIONS. THIS PRACTICE IS STANDARD ROUTINE AT ASH, IN SHOCKING DEFIANCE OF APPLICABLE STATE AND FEDERAL LAW, AND OCCURS WITH FULL PARTICIPATION OF THE HIGHEST RANKING ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AT ASH.

  AND AS PER AS THE RECORD (BELOW), I CAN PROVE IT. 

(APRIL 27, 1012) Bright Line Violations Of The Americans With Disabilities Act: Wherein It Is Shown That In Order To Suppress Good Faith Patient Self-Advocacy, With Full Cooperation From Senior Staff Clinicians, Arizona State Hospital Chief Executive Officer/Supervisor Corey Nelson Engages In  Graphically Unconstitutional Retaliation, Forcible Coercion, Unjust Restrictions, and Intimidation, Putting Patients At Grave Risk Of Personal Harm And Fear For Their Lives In Order to Suppress Good Faith Self Advocacy.

     In my April 9, 2012, article (see this blog: 04/09/12 "Fact #3) I described details relating to my having been unlawfully transferred from a markedly peaceful patient unit at the Arizona State Hospital (ASH) to a very violent one immediately following the submission of a formal  grievance report (dated September 2, 2011, but relating to events that occurred in late May, 2011) that was produced on my behalf by a former representative of the Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Human Rights advocate named John Gallagher. As such, it is clear to me that the unit transfer was imposed on me as matter of criminal retaliation that was imparted on me by my then attending physician, Dr. Pervaiz Akkter, in complicity with former ASH Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Steven Dingle, Dr. Lynn Lydon, as well as ASH' legal representative, Mr. Joel Rudd (who is an assistant with the Office of the Arizona Attorney General), solely because I had exercised my fundamental right to voice dissent and good faith concern over abuse of authority and related administrative misconduct at ASH.

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 (INC. 2008 AMENDMENTS)

     -TITLE 42- THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

     -CHAPTER 126) EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Section 12203 Prohibition Against Retaliation and Coercion

       a) Retaliation. No person shall discriminate against any individual because such individual has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by this chapter or because such individual made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this chapter.

       b) Interference, coercion, or intimidation. It shall be unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any individual in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of his or her having exercised or enjoyed, or on account of his or her having aided or encouraged any other individual in the exercise or enjoyment of, any right granted or protected by this chapter.

       c) Remedies and procedures. The remedies and procedures available under sections 12117, 12133, 12188 of this title shall be available to aggrieved persons for violations of subsections (a) and (b) of this section, with respect to subchapter I, subchapter II and subchapter III of this chapter, respectively.

     The original September 02, 2011, grievance report (for which I was retaliated against) has to date survived a number of administratively corrupt attempts by ASH and The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Office of Grievances and Appeals (OGA) to effectively squash it without merit, and the matter is still today in the process of legal oversight. I am still, close to one year after the original May, 2011, events that were presented in the grievance report submitted on my behalf by human rights advocate, John Gallagher, on September 04, 2011, awaiting word as to the scheduling date for an affirmed, pending administrative hearing in a state court specific to this matter. The delay of due process in this matter is in graphic violation of constitutional law that all Americans are deserved of being protected by, but nobody at the state seems to care. Thus, it is matter of time before federal intervention will be required as matter of removing the criminal elements of ASH administrators and clinicians, as well as related departmental corruption and administrative negligence.

       As to the retaliative transfer,  one business day after the Sept. 2011 grievance report arrived in the administrative offices at ASH, I was advised in a September 06, 2012, letter drafted and signed by ASH Supervisor Cory "crazycorycorner.weebly.com" Nelson and former ASH Chief Medical officer, Dr. Steven Dingle, that I was being transferred from the notably peaceful Palo Verde East unit to the very violent unit, Desert Sage East. I have attached this letter and a handful of other related documents further below; therein, a sequence of administrative actions designed to punish me for having participated in a lawful, good faith report of gross administrative abuse of authority that discriminated against me and abridged a number of my constitutional rights to dignity, freedom from undue restriction and restraint, fair treatment, and several other very serious liberties and protections afforded me and all patients at ASH under the provisions of the congressionally created ADA statute, and the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.    

        However, and in addition to the technical features of ASH unlawful administrative actions laid out later in this article, I am including the following Arizona Republic newspaper article about a man named Joe Saucedo Gallegos, who bludgeoned two little boys to death with a baseball bat in 2008, because Mr. Gallegos and his story as it stands today has direct bearing on the validity of my concerns. It is my not my desire to worsen Mr. Gallegos personal life at this date, for he is also a victim of the mental health system, in my humble opinion, this despite my feelings about the heinousness of the crime that he was recently prosecuted for; but the fac tof the matter is, Mr. Gallegos presence at ASH directly relates to my allegations concerning the retaliation that I was subjected to....  

       

      .... For, as though to add insult to injury, it was not until I learned about this man's history and violent nature in the above newspaper article (a good 5-6 weeks after I discharged form ASH in late February, 2012) that I realized the graphic extent to which ASH administrative and clinical staff had gone in order to criminally attempt to suppress my voice as a patient and human being. But I came into direct contact with Joe Saucedo Gallegos on a daily basis as soon as I was subjected to the retaliative unit transfer that I describe above, because I became his new bathroom-mate (for lack of a better term), making us virtual roommates. Initially unbeknownest to me, too, Mr Gallegos was aware of my efforts to address ASH' staff involvement with illicit tobacco and other substances sales and use at ASH, and he harbored a very real resentment towards me for this reason, because he was a very active dealer, and loan shark, of sorts. Due to these circumstances, I was subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation by this man (and other patients on Desert Sage East) for the entirety of my final six months at ASH. Staff was fully aware of these facts, and the ongoing threats of violence directed at me by this man were documented on numerous occasions after I reported it, but I was never aware of how radically dangerous my situation was. 

      
Here (above) is the the copy of the formal advisement that I received from ASH Supervisor Cory Nelson and former ASH Chief medical Officer, Dr. Steven Dingle, on September 06, 2011, one business after ASH had received submission of the September 02, 1011, advising me that I was to be transferred from the peaceful Palo Verde East unit to the notoriously violent Desert Sage East unit. The letter is absolutely barren of the required information when it comes to unit transfers, and I find it insulting, at best, to have to believe that these people believe they can pull this sort of egregious misconduct on disabled persons such as myself; but as I have also made clear, these sorts of practices are par for the course at ASH, and they impose these sorts of criminal actions on all the patients at ASH, as a matter of standard practice. 

Not only was the transfer clearly imposed upon me as a matter of retaliation, it was in violation of very straight forward ADHS rules and procedure, too (see below);  for, as shown herein, there is a specific protocol whereby the patient himself and the patient's entire inpatient treatment and discharge planning team is to be provided with a reasonable explanation of the expectant therapeutic benefits of a unit transfer, which the letter above clearly does not include. In fact, the entire sequence of events specific to the transfer process in this case were void of any of the required terms described below, in terms relating to the planning of a unit transfer, as well as in terms of immediate follow up procedures. I was in this case (and numerous other like situations) blatantly denied every benefit in the book as an ASH patient and client member of the state department of health/behavioral health, which again, I contend would never be allowed to occur in a  hospital not designed to exclusively treat mentally disabled persons, or a private hospital for that matter. This is further evidence to the effect that ASH is engaged in clear discrimination against its clientele purely on the basis of disability. Unacceptable and shocking to the conscience and expectations of any reasonably intelligent person- until one encounters the practices of ASH administrators and senior clinical staff, that is.

        

 ASH such, public entities and facilities such as the Arizona State Hospital and its staff, and the staff of the affiliated Department of Health Services, as well as the representatives of the state attorney generals office such as Joel Rudd,(who I contend for good reason has more familiarity with directly applicable law in this context than any other involved party- he's a freaking lawyer who has represented ASH since the early 1990s, for crying out loud!), are all subject to  the scrutiny of federal oversight flowing from the provisions of the ADA and other like law and policy standards, as shown below:

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 (INC. 2008 AMENDMENTS)

     -TITLE 42- THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

     -CHAPTER 126) EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

SUBCHAPTER II- PUBLIC SERVICES
       Part A- Prohibition Against Discrimination and Other Generally Applicable Provisions
Section 12131. Definitions
      As used in this subchapter:
  1) Public entity. The term "public entity" means
(A) any state or local government;
(B) any department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or States or local government.
  2) Qualified individual with a disability. The term "qualified individual with a disability" means an individual who, with or without reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices, the removal of architectural, communication, or transportation barriers, or the provision of auxiliary aids and services, meets the essential eligibility requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by a public entity.

Section 12132. Discrimination
Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, no qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity.

        
As shown above, I immediately recognized that required procedures had been disregarded to an extreme that definitely extended to the realm of federal protections and so on, but as always, I began a process of fundamentally good faith dissent that relied upon the willingness of the patient advocate at ASH, Sonya Serda, to do her part in terms of at least addressing the fact that hospital and ADHS procedure hadn't been followed, as expressed in a September 12, 2011, grievance report that I submitted to Ms. Serda.   

CORY "CRAZYCORYCORNER" NELSON'S SEPTEMBER 30, 2011, LETTER TO ME

I also drafted a letter to Cory Nelson himself concerning this matter, and about two full weeks later, I received his personal interpretation of his given authority (see above). In his letter to me, Mr. Nelson patently denies any obligation to the most centrally involved patients (in this case, me), justifying his authority in this matter as supercedent to every applicable regulation and requirement of unit transfers. Despite my pointing out to him that there are numerous- and very clear- provisions of Arizona Administrative Code, as well as ASH/ADHS own rules, relating to unit transfers, Mr. Nelson flatly disregarded these fundamental merits of my concerns, and instead, instead issuing the above letter wherein he expoloits the possibility that mentally ill persons have little or no access to such documents and related provisions, basically telling me that he can do whatever he wants. Mr. Nelson also expressed himself as being rather out of touch with the concept of voluntarily cooperative patients such as myself, when he points out my right to "request discharge" if I am not satisfied with "the treatement" that I was receiving. The Arizona state Hospital is not a Motel Six, and my very clear dissatisfactions with my treatment at ASH were always founded upon equally clear reports of staff misconduct and related unlawfulness.   Mr. Nelson's position on these matters, as stated in this letter, reeks of administrative disregard for patient, and is very akin to the discriminative tendeny of ASH physicians in terms of how they sp often abuse their respective authority, doing whatever they want to with no concern whatsoever for the wellbeing of their patients, and then chalk it off in the context of treatment needs. In both contexts, it is criminally extreme abuse of the "powers" and directly related responsibilites that people like Mr. Nelson are granted and assigned via the public trust, and in my humble opion, misconduct that absolutely pollutes and disqualifies them from the privileges that society grants such individuals in society today.  

      As evidenced in Nelson's langauge in the above letter, these specific matters offer an outstanding example of the severity of administrative negligence that I experienced while hospitalized at ASH, and very clearly represents the substandard conditions that the patients at the Arizona State Hospital are subjected to on a daily basis. My "treatment" at ASH was not unusual, in this sense, and it goes to show that ASH operates in direct defiance of the ADA and other highly valued mandates of common decency and protocol on a daily basis.  

       At this time, I have prevailed in fighting ASH' and ADHS' attempts to cover up the highly egregious retaliation that I was subjected to by the September 06, 2011, unit transfer from what is possibly the most peaceful unit at ASH to the arguably most violent one; and I have yet to hear, but as with the original September 06, 2011, grievance report that led to ASH Supervisor and (then) Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Dingle's  decision to punish me for my self advocacy efforts, there is a pending (yet to be scheduled) hearing that will be conducted in the Arizona Office of Administrative a hearings in downtown Phoenix in specific relation to my allegations concerning retaliation, and the high degree of risk that was posed to me for the last 6 months of my so called "treatment" at the Arizona State Hospital.
        I cannot easily describe the extent of violence that I was exposed to after my transfer to Desert Sage East unit, but suffice it to say, it is a unit specifically staffed and designed to house the most problematic, and potentially violent,  patients on the civil side of ASH . As such, the atmosphere on Desert Sage East contradicts my personality characteristics and the very heart of my given diagnosis. The impacts of this action led to myriad experiences on that unit were deeply disturbing and very detrimental to my overall well being. In sum, I was assaulted by mentally disturbed patients on nine occasions during the whole of my nearly two year period of hospitalization in mental health facilities, ASH and elsewhere circa 2010-2012, and in none of those occasions did I so much as strike back in my own defense or otherwise engage in violent acts. I am a nonviolent person dedicated to civil interactions with others at all times, I have no history of violence or related criminal record, and to quote a rather well known Kinks song: "I'm not the world's most physical guy...", either. It is my express contention that ASH administrators and clinicians knew this about me (how could they not?) when they opted to subject me to the highly volatile and clearly dangerous environment of Desert Sage East. I am still bothered by very real anxiety and fear that stems directly from the months I spent on that unit, and I am uncomfortably distrustful of medical authorities now, too, in direct relation to the radically criminally malfeasant abuse of power that was subjected on me in this matter. It is a bottom line fact that any number of nonviolent mentally ill adults at ASH are subjected to retaliation and related undue exposure to harm on a day to day basis.          
       Hopefully, these documents will give readers an idea of the systematic manner in which ASH administrators and department of health representatives flaunt their ill conceived sense of power and authority over persons effected by serious mental illness and related disability as matter of standard practice. It is criminal and inhumane to the nth degree. Let's stop it today.

paoloreed@gmail.com

#3 Of Patient Safety. And/or, the lack thereof in terms of the substandard care practices and conditions at The Arizona State Hospital.

As to the topic of staff sanctioned trafficking of illegal substances at The Arizona State Hospital, and the related issue of retaliatory actions that ASH administrators utilize in order to put certain patients at grave risk of harm should any such patient openly report the substandard medical-mental health care practices at ASH, I offer yet more good faith accounting of my very real experiences as an ASH patient in 2011-2012.

     I did submit more than one heartfelt and well documented report about the presence of illegal substance trafficking at ASH to the Arizona Department of Health Services within 8 weeks of my arrival to ASH. I had by then been exposed to the worst aspects of how this issue affects the experiences of ASH patients across the board. In short, the presence of highly addictive substances- namely tobacco products- that are illegally distributed by a very limited number of staff, with the cooperation of an equally limited number of ASH patients- do create a range of very serious threats to ASH patients in the precise manner that all/any form of street drug dealing does in similarly small/contained settings (apt. complexes, neighborhoods, etc). Not to mention the well recognized lethal hazards of tobacco, and the complications that addiction causes in the context of mental illness. Through basic conversations about this matter with patients who had been at ASH for many years, I learned that one cigarette typically sells for upwards of $5, which translated to close to $1000 per carton, and that the supply of these illicitly  trafficked substances is made available by only a few ASH staff, with the clear involvement of ASH security.  

     This issue is of very common knowledge to anyone with any semblance of experience at ASH, from all ASH staff, to the patients, and even regular visitors to ASH. As stated, I submitted several reports to ADHS in the context, and did in fact acquire the attention of state level ADHS officials. A representative from ADHS  came and spoke with me about this issue in April, 2011 (about 12 weeks after I arrived to ASH), and he did agree to initiate a process whereby ASH administrators would be advised of the fact that such activity at ASH needs to be eliminated, on the basis of applicable law, as well as in the context of how hazardous this matter is, in fact, to the ASH patient community as a whole. 

     In coming to this agreement, I was assured by involved ADHS officials that my identity would remain undisclosed, this in direct relation to the possibility of me subject to potential retaliation from involved staff or patients. However, within a matter of days of my formal meeting with ADHS, several ASH patients (Billy, Joe) made clear to me that they had learned about my participation in this process, and did from that point on continually engage in very serious threats that kept me in a dire state of fear for my safety, and in time led to actual assaults on me  that arose directly in the context of me being labelled as a "snitch." 

     Important to note that none of the involved ASH patients were receiving treatment on the treatment unit that I was initially placed on (Palo Verde east). However, the above mentioned patients (Billy, Joe) were both residents of the very violent unit that I was unlawfully transferred to immediately after the submittal of a formal, AZ Office of  Human Rights grievance report on my behalf (see this blog: "Of Pateint Safety..." Jan. 22, 2014). I then chose to openly divulge these details in the hope that my efforts to report the issue would be acknowledged in good faith,  and made these facts clear to the ASH staff who implemented that transfer, including then ASH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Dingle, my primary attending ASH psychiatrist(s) Dr. Pervaiz Akhter and Dr. Laxman Patel, as well as the ASH patient advocate at the time, Sonya Serda. None of my concerns  in this context were acknowledged, however, and within weeks of being unlawfully transferred, I was as a matter of documented fact  physically attacked by such patients in my new treatment unit. I attest to these facts, and I can prove it. 

     
IN CLOSING: Needless to say, the presence of this issue remained literally unabated for the entirety of my 13 full months as a patient at the Arizona State Hospital. I never witnessed any direct intervention by ASH administrators, and the only response I ever got from my attending doctors amounted to clear indifference, the standard byline being "You need to focus on your own treatment, and not concern yourself with such things." No actual actions beyond, that is, the temporary closing of the only available patient bathrooms on the outside grounds of ASH's civil section in late summer, 2011, an action that was allegedly implemented by ASH security, had no effect on the availability of illicit substances that as a matter of fact are all smuggled into the ASH facility, and only led to the occurrence of defecation on the sidewalks etc. of the grounds themselves. It is clear from this pattern of negligence that ASH administrators and senior level clinicians have little to no understanding of the significance of these issues, or worse (albeit as likely), that at least some of them are involved in profiting from this trafficking. It is that bad. Grossly substandard care practices and highly illegal administrative mismanagement of Arizona's sole long term public mental hospital- and they are getting away with it.    

paoloreed@gmail.com     

Of "Communicating" With Will Humble.

AZ Dept. of Health Services Director's Blog. By  Will Humble, ADHS Director.  http://directorsblog.health.azdhs.gov                              

     So, Mr. Humble: How long do you reckon you are going to get away with breaching the public trust in terms of BHS and ASH? I know this is a bit of digression that has nothing to do with your typical propaganda ploys, but in all truth, sir- you are increasingly looking quite the charlatan, and Arizona's public awareness in the context is paradoxically increasing, as well. How many more citizens will have to suffer the harm that your misconduct is causing (and how the hell can you sleep at night!?!?). Please exercise  the courage and wherewithal in terms of doin doing the right thing. Now.          

As I have described in the past, the Director of Arizona Department of Health Services,  Will Humble, has never been willing to openly enter any discourse about the state of affairs at The Arizona State hospital, despite having included a host of articles about ASH in his official public "blog", which does include a so-called prompt for public input in the form of "comments". As such, he and his underlings have instead chosen to engage in graphically dishonest propaganda actions that defy fundamental codes of civil communication, denying, demeaning, mischaracterizing, or otherwise distorting any/all well founded evidence- including good faith testimony from ASH staff, and myself (a former ASH patient)- whenever anything resembling criticism of the substandard medical health care practices and conditions at ASH arises. I have personally submitted more than a dozen good faith comments to Humble's blog, and in each case, my feedback has been willfully deleted, in clear violation of the public trust, and representative of juvenile unwillingness to accept constructive criticism of any kind. As with the following data included in a recent ABC Ch. 15 news report specific to ASH illustrates:

      "Outside the state capitol, Humble pretended he didn’t hear our questions when we tried to ask him about the federal notice of deficiencies."

Read more: http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/arizona-officials-say-federal-crackdown-on-state-mental-hospital-result-of-abc15-investigation

IN CLOSING: I admit that the above communique' to the highest paid and ranking public health official in the state of Arizona is somewhat less than  polite. The fact is, the first half dozen or so communications that I sent Humble's way in 2011-12 were 100% civil, well grounded in terms of testimony and citation, and expressed in very simple terms that represented nothing beyond my basic request that he do the right thing with respect for the substandard care practices and condition at The Arizona State Hospital, as applicable to his responsibilities and associated obligations to the greater Arizona citizenry. But again, and again, and yet again, this man willfully suppressed my communications in an exhibition of censorship that shocks the conscience. How and/or why a man with Humble's training and education would so foolishly opt to further the graphic deception that has been occurring in this context is beyond me. In any case, one can't keep their head in the sand forever. This is a fact that I have learned in my own right, the hard way. Or, as Abraham Lincoln put it: "You may be able to fool some of the people some of the time. But you cannot fool all the people all of the the time." Your time is coming, Will Humble. You have been warned in clear terms, and you have had more than enough ample opportunity to act in accordance with your express duty as a public servant.  From my perspective, the time for niceties is long past, and I am sincere in my expressed foment and deep dissatisfaction with your misconduct as it stands. That said, you little weasel of a man- I'll be goddamned if I am going to ease up on taking you to task in this context. You should do well in the custody of the state. 

paoloreed@gmail.com

Of Undeserved Promotion Within Arizona Department of Health/Behavioral Health Services.

As mentioned in my last article (see "#2 Safety...", January 23, 2014), there is a common practice carried on within the ADHS/BHS construct, wherein individuals who have engaged in clinical and administrative wrongdoing at The Arizona State Hospital (and beyond in the public health care system) are virtually rewarded for such misconduct, rather than redirected or otherwise held accountable. To date, the following illustrates my contention in this context:

Cory Nelson: ...WAS HIRED IN AUGUST, 2011, TO TAKE OVER THE POSITION OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT ASH, A POSITION WHICH HAD BEEN VACANT FOR MORE THAN 90 DAYS. IN LESS THAN 12 FULL MONTHS AS CEO AT ASH, NELSON IMPLEMENTED A RANGE OF MAJOR CHANGES TO THE ASH OPERATION WHICH ARE NOW KNOWN TO BE THE CAUSE OF THE CURRENT CRISIS FACING THE HOSPITAL, AS SPELLED OUT IN VARIOUS PHOENIX AREA MEDIA REPORTS. HE IMPLEMENTED SAID CHANGES UNILATERALLY, WITH LITTLE TO NO INPUT FROM ASH STAFF, AND AS A DIRECT CONSEQUENCE OF HIS ACTIONS, THOUSANDS OF INCIDENTS OF SERIOUS VIOLENCE HAVE OCCURRED, TO THE DIRECT DETRIMENT OF ASH STAFF AND PATIENTS ALIKE, AT THE EXPENSE OF ARIZONA TAXPAYERS. FOR THIS, AFTER SERVING AS A STATE EMPLOYEE FOR LESS THAN ONE YEAR, NELSON WAS PROMOTED TO HIS CURRENT POSITION: DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE ENTIRE PUBLIC BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SYSTEM IN ARIZONA. (responsible party: ADHS DIRECTOR WILL HUMBLE.)

Donna Noriega: ...WAS FOUND GUILTY IN MARCH 2012 BY THE Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners Social Work Credentialing Committee OF ENGAGING IN LYING WHILE ACTING IN HER AUTHORITY AS THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AT ASH, AS PER  ARIZONA REVISED STATUTE 32-3251 (12) Unprofessional Conduct (c)   Any oral or written misrepresentation of a fact by an applicant or licensee (i) to secure or attempt to secure the issuance or renewal of of a license.  I CAN ALSO ATTEST TO NUMEROUS EXHIBITIONS OF SIMILAR MISCONDUCT OF THIS WOMAN WHICH DID CONTRIBUTE TO SOME OF MY WORST EXPERIENCES AS AN ASH PATIENT, WHEREIN SHE BLATANTLY FAILED TO ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH HER MOST BASIC OBLIGATIONS AS AN ASH ADMINISTRATOR.  FOR THIS, NORIEGA WAS PROMOTED IN 2013 TO HER CURRENT POSITION: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL. (responsible party: ADHS/BHS DEPUTY DIRECTOR CORY NELSON.)

Dr. Steven Dingle: ... WAS CENTRALLY INVOLVED IN NUMEROUS  QUESTIONABLE ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS DURING HIS STINT AS CHEIF MEDICAL OFFICER AT ASH, INCLUDING THE WILLFUL COVERUP OF VERY VIOLENT PATIENT'S ESCAPE FROM ASH IN LATE MAY, 2011, WHICH DID DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE HORRIFIC MURDER OF AN INNOCENT YOUNG PHOENIX WOMAN NAMED APRIL MOTT (see: "Victim's Family Questions Why Man Was Free", by JJ Hensley, Arizona Republic newspaper, September 29, 2011. I CAN ALSO ATTEST TO DINGLE'S INVOLVEMENT IN A RANGE OF SIMILAR ACTIONS SPECIFIC TO MY EXPERIENCES AS AN ASH PATIENT, THE MAJORITY OF WHICH I OF COURSE DOCUMENTED WHEN THEY OCCURRED. IT IS CRITICAL TO NOTE THAT AS CMO AT ASH, THIS MAN WAS 100% RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ASPECTS OF THE CLINICAL PRACTICES AT THERE, WITH RESPECT FOR EACH AND EVERY ASH PATIENT, WHICH DENOTES THE FACT THAT MY EXPERIENCES WERE FAR FROM UNUSUAL. FOR THIS, DINGLE HAS SINCE BEEN PROMOTED IN OCTOBER 2012 TO HIS CURRENT POSITION OF CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE ENTIRE ADHS/BHS HEALTH CARE SYSTEM.  (responsible party(s): CORY NELSON, WILL HUMBLE).

Dr. Laxman Patel: ... WAS MY FIRST PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN AT ASH, WHO DID GRAPHICALLY MISCHARACTERIZE MY ESTABLISHED MEDICAL HISTORY AS IT APPLIES TO MY DIAGNOSIS, IMPARTING THE BLAME FOR VERY HARMUL INCESTUOUS SEXUAL ABUSE THAT I WAS SUBJECTED TO AS A YOUNG BOY UPON ME. HE ALSO REFUSED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH ABOUT MY REFERRAL TO ASH AT THAT POINT IN TIME THAT I WAS UNLAWFULLY TRANSFERRED FROM THE MOST PEACEFUL UNIT AT ASH TO THE MOST VIOLENT, A CLEAR ACT OF RETALIATION THAT OCCURRED IN DEFIANCE OF MY REFERRING DOCTOR'S DIRECT INPUT IN THE CONTEXT. IMPORTANT TO REALIZE AS WELL THAT PATEL HAS MORE SENIORITY IN TERMS OF YEARS WORKED AT ASH THAN ANY OTHER CLINICIAN THERE, HAVING PRACTICED AT ASH SINCE THE 1970S. AS SUCH, HE HAS BEEN PRESENT DURING 4 DECADES OF DEFICIENT HEALTH CARE AT ASH, AND HAS YET TO PLAY A ROLE IN IMPROVING THE SUBSTANDARD CONDITIONS AT ASH OUTSIDE OF BEING SUBJECT TO OVERSIGHT AT THOSE TIMES IN HISTORY WHEN ASH HAS BEEN THE FOCUS OF FEDERAL INVESTIGATION [3-4 TIMES SINCE THE 1970S] ). HE HAS LONG REFUSED TO ACT ON BEHALF OF HIS CLIENTS, IN OTHER WORDS, SHORT OF THOSE TIMES WHEN HE WAS FORCED TO BY SAID OVERSIGHT. FOR THIS, PATEL WAS PROMOTED IN 2012 TO HIS CURRENT POSITION OF CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AT THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL. (responsible party(s): Dr. Steven Dingle, Cory Nelson).

IN CLOSING: All aspects of the above data is confirmable. And these are only the details that I happen to be familiar with, via my arguably limited time as a client of ADHS/BHS. But the fact remains, these people were all promoted (as described above) during a period of time when grossly substandard health care practices and conditions at The Arizona State Hospital were very much in effect, and have continued to work  in their current positions as the escalating evidence about ASH has arisen in over the last 2 years, most markedly in a flurry of major Phoenix area media reports that have been emerging since 2012. Undeserved inner sanctum promotions of this sort, and associated forms of misadministration, are all too common in any bureaucratic setting. This is patently unacceptable, however, when it comes to public health care, and there is no justification whatsoever to allow these issues to remain unaddressed and resolved once and for all. Each one of these individuals needs to be held fully accountable as per their licensure, state employment contracts and the public trust, and fundamental codes of common decency in the context of persons affected by serious mental illness and disability. 

paoloreed@gmail.com

#2 Of Patient Safety. And/or, the lack thereof in terms of the substandard care practices and conditions at The Arizona State Hospital.

As I have stated in updating the retaliatory action taken against me one business day following the submittal of a very well grounded grievance report, a report that was researched and produced by a highly qualified human rights advocate who did in fact work at the time for the state of Arizona itself, I was unjustly transferred from the ASH treatment unit that my referring Tucson doctor(s) had specifically recommended as per my established behavioral traits and known health care needs, to one of the most violent settings on the civil side of The Arizona State Hospital. In the subsequent 5-6 months following that highly questionable September 06, 2011, transfer, I did experience ongoing threats and actual physical assaults that I attest were condoned and in fact instrumented by ASH staff on more than one occasion. As far out as this claim may appear, I further attest to the fact that this method of patient abuse (retaliation, intimidation, physical assault, etc.) is one of ASH administration's  most common ways of forcing ASH patients into submission, if in fact any given patient in any way challenges the presence of graphic patient abuse and related clinical/administrative misconduct at ASH. I learned this even before I was subjected to it myself, from at least one reasonably lucid ASH patient who did in fact warn me to not "make any waves", this based on his own experiences in this very context.

With this very disturbing topic in mind, I offer the following account:

In early 2012, while I was attending dinner with my peers from the very violent unit that I was unlawfully transferred to, a 50 or so year old male named James Medina did physically approach and shove me in direct view of attending ASH staff, while also threatening to cause me severe physical harm. This man is known to be very aggressive and potentially dangerous/violent, and he had previously threatened me as such; the initial incident itself (there in the dinner hall) did not escalate beyond this basic level at that moment in time. However, less than 20 minutes later (after dinner), as I sat by myself at one of the outdoor patio tables writing a a letter to a friend, Medina did approach me where I sat, and proceeded to physically assault me in an incident that lasted at least 45 seconds. I was able to passively defend myself, but that is not the point as it stands. The fact is, given Medina's very threatening behavior in the dinner hall, ASH staff had no excuse for granting this man unfettered grounds privileges, whereby he had direct and immediate access to me in order to attempt and follow through with said threats. I fully believe that by this point in my time at ASH, various ASH staff had come to resent me simply because I am willing to openly speak out against patient abuse, for that is essentially how it goes at ASH, across the board.

This incident was documented at the time, including in the record of the Maricopa County Attorney's office, for I did file a report to police, and the relevant video evidence, etc., fully confirmed the fact that at no point during this cycle of violence did I engage in unlawful conduct in any sense of the term, and that Medina was in fact 100% guilty of attacking me precisely as I have described herein. A later in time arraignment hearing was convened in the Maricopa criminal court, but Medina failed to appear- this is all on record. But even though the details underlying  this incident were clear to ASH security immediately after it occurred (they too reviewed the video at that time), ASH administrators attempted to direct the allegations of assault to me, and this too is all part of the record, as it stands. Involved staff include but is not limited to then ASH Chief Medical Officer Steven Dingle , who immediately signed off an order to restrict me to the unit on the basis of Medina's untruthful allegations that I had assaulted him, in spite of video evidence readily available to Dingle that most definitely supported the factual details of the incident as it had played out. Medina, meanwhile, was not redirected or subject to any accountability, be it in the immediately subesequent hours, nor over the next few days, etc.  Not only was the action of restricting me to the unit an exhibited violation of my rights specific to due process at the time, by forcing me to remain on the unit itself, I was directly exposed to more of Medina's threats and the clear possibility of further attack.

Dr. Steven Dingle, meanwhile, has since been promoted within the ADHS/BHS construct. This, a licensed physician who during his stint as the Chief Medical Officer at ASH did participate in a range of very wide range of criminal misconduct that I have documented in my own right, including the horribly outrageous cover-up of violent escape of ASH patient Jesus Murietta, which did in fact directly contribute the murder of an innocent young Phoenix woman, the full details of which were exposed in a full four page feature news article written by JJ Hensley of the Arizona Republic newspaper (see "Victim's Family Questions Why Man Was Free", September 29, 2011). Such undeserved rewards (promotion) granted to individuals in the ADHS/BHS system who are known to have engaged in unlawful conduct are standard as per the course, and in fact underscores my contention that the first and most assured way to advance in that system comes about through furthering and/or participating in the forms of wrongdoing at ASH that are increasingly becoming common knowledge in the public's eye, as per media reports, and my own work to date.

IN CLOSING: This is only one more of the myriad examples I have in my records specific to the egregious misconduct of the senior clinicians at The Arizona State Hospital, who willfully manipulate the factual realities at ASH in order to subject their clients to grossly malfeasant abuse and outright harm, always in order to preserve the substandard conditions at ASH, always as a matter of standard practice. I could not make this sort of shit up, in all honestly, and in the period of time that I was being subject to it all, I was literally in state of virtual disbelief at times, having to grasp the fact that in a place such as ASH, where we the people have every reason to expect that our seriously mentally ill and at risk citizen peers would be provided with relatively optimum care and protection, the conditions and care practices are in fact as bad as it gets. This reality is occurring at ASH in utter defiance of the findings and purpose of all/any directly applicable laws and policy, including very critical treatises (such as The Americans With Disabilities Act etc.) that were established in direct relation to our common American knowledge, which through history has proven that such seriously mentally ill and disabled persons are highly vulnerable to discrimination, negligence, exploitation, and abuse in all forms. This matter represents horrifically unconscionable misconduct that is occurring in gross violation of the public trust, at both the state as well the national level. In the sense that this nature of wrongdoing in only consistent with established history, I contend that these issues should not be a great surprise to anyone with a modicum of familiarity with public health care facilities such as ASH- herein the need for immediate action that, as a matter of deterrence, will hold all involved parties (ASH staff, as well as associated staff in ADHS/BHS, the Arizona Office of the Attorney General, etc.) fully accountable as per said law and policy. Anything less would be equally unconscionable, and I do implore those individuals and agencies currently seeking to address these issues to take full action on behalf of the ASH patient community, on the basis that for any number of years, all such involved parties have been complicit in allowing for this wrongdoing to occur. 

paoloreed@gmail.com