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