RERUN. Originally published in early 2013.

ONE MORE UPDATE RE: LAXMAN PATEL, M.D. This man was my first attending psychiatric doctor at The Arizona State Hospital, who has since been promoted to the very powerful position of Chief Medical Officer at the Arizona State Hospital. Business as usual… At ASH, at least. 

"YES, SOME INDIANS MOVE HERE TO DO WORK LIKE THAT. IN MY CASE, HOWEVER, I CAME HERE TO HELP PEOPLE." (Dr. Laxman Patel

Not long after I was initially hospitalized in Tucson, Arizona, for direct treatment specific to my diagnosis of major depressive disorder, the following obituary came up in local area newspapers, which I tend to read no matter where I am, in essence. The subject of this obit is a man who I just so happened to have come to know, over the summer of 2009, when I lived just around the corner of small grocery that he and his very friendly family operated. It is a strange world sometimes, but whenever I meet someone as good hearted as Mahesh "Mike" Patel, I take note. Needless to say, thus, my deep sadness in hearing about his tragic death most definitely affected my state of mind, at a time when I was just about 8 weeks into twenty one full months of extended (residential) treatment in the Arizona public behavioral health care system.

Mahesh "Mike" Patel 9/16/1955 - 7/5/2010 was tragically taken from us by a vicious and senseless act of violence on July, 5, 2010, though we know his soul has been freed into heaven. He was born on September 16, 1955 in Ahmedabad, India, where he grew up, married and raised his family. He worked at the Ahmedabad Electric City Co. for 15 years. He was an outgoing and respected member of his community. Proof of his devotion to family took the form of 15 immediate and extended family members living in one household under one roof. In 1998 he left India to join his brothers in Tucson to run Catalina Market. Mike's friendly and very personal style of doing business included greeting customers by name, assuring their unique needs were met, and caring enough to listen to their issues and stories. His infectious sense of humor and joyful laughter made it a pleasure to be in his store and turned loyal customers into friends. The generous and trusting character of Mike and the Patel family helped create a bond of community in the neighborhood-a rare achievement. For those who have known and loved him, we mourn the loss of a genuinely good and decent human being.

 See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/tucson/obituary.

I used to go into Mike Patel's little store almost every day, to buy a newspaper, maybe some beer. It was an awkward period of time in my life, 2009, for I was immersed in the worst impacts of my escalating struggle(s) with chronic depression, including but not limited to acute suicidal ideation (and attempts). But anytime I ventured into the corner shop operated by Mike and his family, I was treated very, very well. I will never forget this, Angels at the Corners of Inner City Streets, those of us-  people- who have truth and virtue underlying our very existence.

Along those lines… I arrived at The Arizona State Hospital in early January, 2011, approximately 6 months after Mike Patel died. Upon admission to ASH, I was immediately assigned as one of Laxman Patel's patients. Within 48 hours of my admission to ASH, I had my first formal discussion with this man, at which time I informed him that a friend of mine, who happened to have the surname of "Patel", had been shot to death during a violent robbery, while attending to the operation of his little corner grocery store.

LAXMAN PATEL'S EXACT RESPONSE TO THIS INFORMATION IS AS FOLLOWS: "YES, SOME INDIANS MOVE HERE TO DO WORK LIKE THAT. IN MY CASE, HOWEVER, I CAME HERE TO HELP PEOPLE."

This conversation occurred during what is referred to as The Arizona State Hospital Psychiatric Admission Assessment). Which just happens to be when the current (2013) chief medical officer at ASH, (same guy- Dr. Laxman Patel), also graphically misreported what may be the most critically significant aspect of my deepest personal history, specific to highly damaging events that are known- as a matter of fact and as stated in the clearest aspects of my medical records at the time of this "assessment"- to be central to my struggles with mental illness and my associated treatment needs. As reported less than a week ago:

"The patient reports that his sister allowed him to fondle her when he was 6 year old."

"Came here to help people", indeed. It may not seem significant, this specific report about Laxman Patel's conduct. But I ask that you, oh reader, consider the fact that I found this man's comments about the death of my friend, Mahesh "Mike" Patel, utterly insulting, evident of very clear arrogance and self-centerdedness, and just about as disrespectful to the character of my friend as I might have imagined possible at the time. Despite this, I chose to trust Laxman Patel, against my better judgement, and largely because as a matter of my state of mind then, for I was still in the throes of depression and suicidal ideation, not yet capable- as it were- of comprehending (or caring about) how depraved the misconduct of ASH's highest ranking clinical staff is, in fact. 

This story, as recorded in my official ASH records, as well as in my own voluminous note-taking as this period of my life unfolded before me (while at ASH), brightly illustrates the most basic evidence in support of my allegation that at ASH, highly paid/authorized medical staff grossly distort the needs of each and every ASH patient as a matter of standard practice. "Standard" in the sense that this man, Laxman Patel, has become 100% accustomed to blatantly ignoring any established medical-mental health care practices, simply on the basis that they can get away with it. This is beyond simple ineptitude, is in fact, culpable negligence and outright willful abuse of authority. As per the letter of law.

These people- men like "Dr." Laxman Patel, "Dr." Perviaz Akhter, and women such as Dr. Ruby Ramos-Roxas, "Dr." Lynn Lydon, etc.- have effectively lost touch (presuming they ever had it) with the well established standards that apply to mental health care, including in terms specific to federally mandated human rights that arise on behalf of anybody affected by serious mental illness and related disability, as per The Americans With Disabilities Act, and other like edict. I attest to this, and all other aspects of this reports, for not only did I experience these issues, I also had full copies of applicable law and policy while it was occurring during my hospitalization at ASH. More specifically, outside advocacy representatives who took the time to visit me at ASH, did in fact bring me full copies of the Arizona Administrative Code (Title 9, Chapter Twenty One), the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Hospital Information Portability and Protection Act. Day after day, week into week, I would be subjected to grossly unlawful conduct, imparted on me by ASH staff at all levels of employ, and no matter the fact that I would always cite such law and policy, such staff would- as a matter of standard practice, look me in the eye, and say in no uncertain terms:

"THIS IS HOW IT IS. AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT." 

In tandem with these denials of my fundamental rights, there was always a presence of barely veiled threats, as in to say under their breath, "And if you continue to challenge us, we will show you what happens to patients like you…" Indeed, as time passed, I was graphically and undeniably subject to clear retaliation, including administrative actions by persons such as former ASH Chief Medical Officer "Dr." Stephen Dingle (who preceded Laxman Patel in that same position [!] and has since been promoted within AZ's larger behavioral health framework) , and former ASH Supervisor, Cory Nelson (who has also since been promoted within the state behavioral health system) For more information, please see this blog: "Of The Impact. The Hearings Continue" (12/27/12).   

IN CLOSING: All such staff misconduct, as illustrated in the bulk of my reporting to date, are a matter of standard practice at The Arizona State Hospital. Graphically substandard medical-mental health care that defies applicable law and policy, and they are getting away with it. In terms of the misconduct of some of the lowest ranking staff technicians (Saeed, Elaine, Rick Tong, etc.)  to the absolute majority of highest ranking clinical and administrative staff at ASH, I saw this shit arise, and I knew it for what it was. Immediately, in fact- as soon as I arrived at ASH, and personal property- my own prescribed medication that arrived with me at ASH- went missing, the shit began to fly. Within hours of this arrival and the theft of highly valuable prescribed street drugs from my property (an unopened bottle of 100 10 mg Ambien, IN FACT), I met fr the first time with "Dr. Laxman Patel, at which point the details of this specific report came to be part of my recorded experiences at ASH. 

It is that bad.

paoloreed@gmail.com  

RERUN: Originally Published in 2012. 

Arizona Department of Health Services Is On Facebook: Herein, an essay, beginning with discussion of another means for civil disobedience and open dialogue- well, not open dialogue, but what else is new with ADHS?

     This will be brief. I spent about twenty minutes last night looking through the various entries on the Arizona Department of Health Services official Facebook page, and was pleased to see literally hundreds of critical areas of public health concerns that the ADHS "team" works to contribute to in terms of everything from education, to expansions in (some) services, events and opportunities for children to engage in healthy activities, and oh gosh, I am a lost giddy over the complexity of it all. They do such a great job, covering every base imaginable, in such thorough fashion, and just look at those smiling faces, it's so overwhelmingly pleading to the eye that I….. Wait…. Critical areas of public heath concern? Events, opportunities? Smiling faces?

    What in the hell am I saying? Have I finally lost track of reality? 

    Of course it is wonderful to know that the good folks at ADHS are putting out so much positive propaganda and involving themselves (the "team") in so much good stuff. But it only begs the question: If Will Humble and his various droogs are able to address myriad issues of almost ever possible shape and form, why in the hell can't they take an honest step or two towards ethically resolving the substandard care and practices at The Arizona State Hospital? For christ's sake, it's right there on East Van Buren! It never moves, fluctuates, or otherwise dodges attention, and yet the problems that I witnessed and experienced during my thirteen months of hospitalization at ASH have been going on since the dawn of time. It is like a nervous tic, it is a sore toe, a potentially quick fix right there, it and the problems associated with it. So why can't they see this? Why won't they fix it? What is the problem, exactly?

     Why? What? I'll tell you why and what: Because seriously mentally ill/disabled persons are amongst the most marginalized human beings in our world, that's why. I don't know if this universally the case, from one culture to the next, and throughout the ages, but it applies today. People like me, and my peers at ASH, are quite literally swept under the proverbial carpet, kept at a comfortable distance ("As far out of sight as possible, thank you."), ignored, and even detested. I attest to having acquired- while at ASH- the awareness that mentally ill and disabled people (like me) don't generally rate so much as an even, fairly shared place in a line for service at a food counter. I saw this, I felt it, I was the subject of it. I was subjected to it, day in, day out. Otherness, alienism, freakishness, dehumanization. I was feared, I was shunned, I was less than human in the eyes of most ASH staff, and I deserved less than humane treatment in their views. And this is how all of the patients at ASH are treated, even if they can't recognize it.  

     But I refused to accept it. I believe, too, that this was nothing short of a luxury, in comparison to how many of my friends at ASH experience "life" there. Many of them have been subjected to the consequences and impacts of their respective disability for a good portion of their lives. Institutionalization, too, does happen, and for these sorts of reasons, many of my peers at ASH knew no other way or had forgotten any other way to exist or be treated; while I, on the other hand, had spent most of my pre-ASH (48-49) years of life living as most reasonably privileged Americans do, with little to no fear of being treated like a nit (you hear that, Patel?) or abused or harmed by others, outside of the criminals on the streets. I was in, fact, and not too long ago, one of those who would cross a major street in order to avoid having to share the sidewalk with a man or woman talking to themselves, and I realized/remembered this while I was there, at ASH. It was an amazing and very disturbing array of self realizations and awarenesses to experience, my "life" at ASH, but my experiences there never pushed me off my own personal ledge of basic integrity (although, try they did try, the rat bastards, in every way I believe they knew how, through intimidation, abuse of authority, ridicule, and insult).

     I survived ASH only because I knew then, as I do now, that my integrity as a person is so inalienably tied into my very presence here on this rock, that even the rudest and/or most ruthlessly power hungry staff person or doctor at ASH never so much as nudged me from my sense of self as a human being. It shook me up at times, and it aggravated my willingness to consider death as a better way to exist, and of course my feelings were hurt. But I refused to be like them, and I knew, that if I was not very, very careful, I would in life become just like them. Mentally ill people are, as a rule, systematically dehumanized by the majority of our given culture. This is common knowledge amongst the few, sadly: dehumanization, and stigmatization. It is the root reason for why congress enacted the Americans With Disabilities Act and explicitly included a variety of provisions specific to the rights of such, the mentally disabled. Because the mentally disabled are very highly at risk of abuse and unlawful exploitation, not as consequence of something nearly so obvious as physical disability (in many cases), but rather because of who they are in terms of personality and behavior; and it this aspect of the condition, mentally disabled, that creates the graphic disconnect between the healthy and the not so healthy in this specific context. Equally common is the undeniable fact that, if given the opportunity to avoid the fundamental precepts of common good in a civilized and contemporary society such as ours, certain forms of our own species will seek the easiest way to do things. They will cut every corner in the house, and evade every direct responsibility that they can, all in order to stay afloat. In order to maintain their status quo. So as to earn a living. All justifiable, in the minds of such people, on the basis of one dog eat the other,  while always looking out for number one. 

     Such people feed on the weak. It is inherent in there way of doing things, and they have to find hidden away pockets in the given landscape if they are going to survive. They know this. So they learn, either through trial and error, or by field research and personal education, or for some of them, it comes through instinct; they acquire knowledge of where they can exist as they need to, and then they flock there, almost as one. State mental hospitals such as ASH are perfect examples of such places. "Public mental hospitals are still  snakepits for abuse" (The Council on Human Rights, 2009). They are "health care" facilities managed by shortsighted, and far too often, corrupt state government, where the most vulnerable, defenseless, voiceless, and at risk (of abuse) clientele are kept. Sites where the otherwise unemployable can find safe haven (hear that, Akhter?), where their patient-clients cannot so much as raise their voice to a tone of frustration without being subject to punitive forms of unregulated power. Power that imparts itself through the actions of ill qualified "health care professionals" who effectively exploit the lives of human beings who are seen by far too many people, even today, as something other than human. Human, like you are human, and like I am human. Below, between cracks; beneath deserved respect, dignity, and heartfelt concern.

     In the ADHS/BHS network- er, I mean "team", (don't I, Humble?)- of caregivers and service providers, the mentally ill patients at ASH occupy an obscured, at best, no man's land, mired deep in the tapestry of the state's most needy health care clients. Many of them arrive at ASH via the criminal courts, and despite reckonings in such venues that have come to determine that this person is not a criminal, this person is sick, that specific process inevitably leads to the belief that ASH patients are, in essence, convicts. It was not too long ago, in fact, that the parlance of the field- long term psychiatric patient hospitalization- actually employed that exact word to refer to anybody who just so happened to wind up in the nuthouse- convict, and I still find the word springing up time to time in my research today (although happily, that usually only occurs in relation to older text). So what you end up with, you see, is a pickle of an especially deadly variety; or a recipe for disaster, that is, and a guarantee of something far less than the norm. Something below the standard. Substandard. With substandard health care "professionals" who are so entrenched in selfishness or self loathing that they really have no choice but to conjure the thought: The expectations of greater society and culture be damned, because this is not the real world, this is ASH, and these people are insane, they are deformed in the brain, they are immoral at birth and inherently criminal in character, and nobody cares about them! Nobody else care about them, so why should I?  

     As already stated, this is how all of the patients at ASH are treated, at some time or another, even if they can't recognize it. For their sakes, my friends at ASH, I may even hope they can't, for I can only imagine that it might be easier that way. But I also cannot deny the fact that some of my closest friends at ASH feel the pain and torment of this mistreatment just as vividly as I do, even today, almost 6 moths post-discharge. Day in, day out, they and I still do. I have friends at ASH who will be institutionalized for the rest of their given lives, and if things at ASH remain unchanged, these friends will live every day of their given lives in abject misery, and not due to the the worst aspects of thier illness, but because of the cruelty of the worst staff at ASH.   

In Closing: So much for brief. If I was stupid enough to fall for Will Humble and the ADHS Facebook page's line of molded baloney, this would have been brief, I suppose. I am preparing to draft some essays about my experiences at The Arizona State Hospital for publication in one or another of the scholarly reviews that I have agreed to contribute some of my writing to. Essays, sort of like what I learned to love in junior high, only essays of substance, that I can write from the heart, rather than off the cuff, or from the hip. Essays, then, as I learned to write to near perfection in college honors programs, expository expressions of experience and awareness, with thesis' statements and structure. You want to hear my thesis in relation to this article (which is nothing more than on off the cuff essay, I will admit to that)? Here it is: 

    1) The good folks on the "team" known as Will Humble's Arizona Department of Health Services are so goddamn busy with remaining focused on anything other than one particular line of activity or service, that they are simply incapable, on any level,  of slowing down enough to even consider something as bizarre as what I call common decency in the most uncommon places. As such, the Arizona Department of Health Services is a classic state division/agency, not at all unlike the DMV: Overstaffed, underfunded, and way too crowded with paper pushers and shortsighted mid level managers. Not to mention the corruption, state agency corruption, dereliction, and greed, good old greed. 

    2) While ADHS internal agency, Behavioral Health Services, shares each and every aspect of disarray that its parent so overtly displays, with the additional feature of being grossly under funded-underpaid and staffed by thugs and malcontents who are assigned the direct responsibility of caring for the full breadth of affairs and care needs of the most marginalized, vulnerable and at risk (of abuse and exploitation) population in the community. This goes right to the heart of my aforementioned recipe for disaster. TNT and nitroglycerine in one only one example of state managed activity in Arizona. And while I cannot thank enough, the ones at ASH who do, in fact, meet the obligations of their positions (because, as I have stated time and time again there are many good people at ASH, but they are still the minority), far too many of them are bottom feeding sadomasochists, barracudas, dunces, and gorillas (or otherwise unemployables) who flock like deranged seagulls into the cavernous underbelly of this agency- ASH- where they can grovel in their ineptitude and depravity as one pulsating blob, covering each others backs, guarding all secrets ("What happens at ASH, stays at ASH- that's what HIPPA's for, remember?"), and swearing off second thoughts about anything, because who can afford to lose their job in this day in age? 

     Please visit my April 30, 2012, "Resource Ideas" article. Better yet, if you are up to it, contact your elected representatives, and do it in writing. Help me in getting those sorts of people involved. There is no better time than the present to pull all the stops out when it comes to these matters. Patient abuse is inhumane and criminal, and the associated failures of our state officials and their various staffers to directly address the substandard mental-medical care and practices at The Arizona State Hospital is 100% unacceptable in any reasonably civilized society. As though you need someone like myself to remind you of this. I am nothing special, but I am good enough to do the right thing, and so are you. 

paoloreed@gmail.com

RERUN

THIS WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LATE 2012. 

Only In Arizona/Faces Of Deceit #ONE: Wherein, my own personal demons, as exemplified by the corruption in Arizona's public service network, align somewhat with my own personal idols. 

     For the entirety of my time as a patient at The Arizona State Hospital (ASH), I ran approximately 6-9 hours per week. There is a quarter or so mile long swath of concrete known as the "patient mall" in ASH' civil section, where I was mis-treated between early January, 2011, and late February, 2012; I would run back and forth along its entire length, with occasional forays into  terra-scaped areas of dirt and brush lying between the patient unit buildings, as a matter of doing what I could to distract myself from the stomach turning staff misconduct that I witnessed and was personally subjected to on a near daily basis. 
     Running was, at times, the only means I had to remind myself of life's potential quality, and as I once told Dr. Pervaiz Akhter (to his face, and in front of at least 6-7 other members of my clinical treatment team), "I run to escape you and your kind. I run to escape your decadence and lack of ethos. I run to escape all of you. I have never run like this before."

     Running, for myself, is all about honesty. One step at a time, I am reminded of where I am, of who I am, and most importantly, of everything that I feel I know; and this is what inspired the acuity of my statements to Dr. Prevaiz Akhter on that day. As with every other intense physical activity that I have ever embraced in my life, including but not limited to bicycle road racing, and alpine and nordic ski racing, I endeavor in my running as intensely as I comfortably can, for in such intensity I find solace from the shortcomings of my own human nature, and that of my species, in general. You cannot hide when you run. There is no way to get around running, once you start. And you cannot misrepresent yourself when you run. But at ASH, I found myself so fraught with turmoil about staff wrongdoing and substandard care practices that I witnessed and was subjected to on a daily basis, that my running became a means of escape, with no actual solace in sight. Indeed, I had never had to run like that before, and hopefully, will never again.  

"It's alright, as long as you get away with it." 
    (David Walsh, LA Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong [2006])

Those exhibiting psychopathic behavior. "At the core of the psychopath is always a profoundly malignant narcissism," says Brian Russell, a clinical psychologist and attorney from Lawrence, Kansas. "They focus on what they need, and feel an entitlement to get what they need at the cost of anything to anyone else." 

SEE THESE FACES? THESE ARE TWO FACES OF DECEIT THAT HAVE BEEN LYING TO THE PUBLIC IN SOME OF THE MOST PROMINENTLY EVENTS IN THE WORLD OF LATE.  IN MY OPINION, ANY FACE OF CORRUPTION AND UNTRUTH IS A HELL OF LOT MORE CLEAR TO THE OBSERVER THAN IT IS TO THE CRIMINAL'S SELF AWARENESS OF SUCH. 

    

DR. PERVAIZ AKHTER (PSYCHIATRIST) 

THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL

PHOENIX, AZ

MT. GRAHAM HILL CLIMB RECORDS    
Rio Grande Racing Team/12.97 mph/1:32:30/1985 

      I spent about 7 years dedicating myself to bicycle road and racing in the 1980s, and throughout much of this time, I had the distinct privilege of being able to train and race with some of the sports strongest riders. Admittedly, I was never nearly so fast as those riders, but I was just fast enough to compete on their level, was granted the opportunity to race with such riders as a teammate based in New Mexico and Colorado, and consequently, I did get to share the roads and countless hours riding in their company, and even won a big race or two. Today, as I continue to engage in near daily rides in and around my current region of residence (I've even done a couple of mt. bike races this sumer), I also keep my eyes honed in on the current racing scene in the United States, as well as on the foreign front, where epic sagas continue to be spelled out every season. As such, cycling in general and bike racing in particular are close to my heart. 

        There was a bicycle race on, the Tour de Pays Basque, and the riders were stopping that night in San Sebastian. In the [hotel] dining room, at one side, there was a long table of bicycle riders, eating with their trainers and managers. They were all French and Belgian, and paid close attention to their meal, but they were having a good time…
     The next morning at five o’clock the race resumed with the last lap, San Sebastian-Bilbao. The bicycle riders drank much wine, and were burned and browned by the sun. They did not take the racing seriously except among themselves. They had raced among themselves so often that it did not make much difference who won. Especially in a foreign country. The money could be arranged. 

                                                   (from: "The Sun Also Rises", Ernest Hemingway 1926)    

    On May 03, 2010, I gave the 1988 Trek 500 road racing bike that I had been using to commute around Tucson for the prior three years to a man I had never met before; we encountered one another in the alley that ran directly behind an apartment I lived in at the time, not far from the campus of the University of Arizona, and as per my invitation, we began drinking beer together in my yard at about 1 p.m. or so. He was a graduate student, in the neighborhood in order to look for places that he could rent before summer classes at UA began, and the apartment that I lived in with my friend and roommate Mike R. for the prior 4 months was already available, in effect. So the guy called the landlord and made an appointment to meet with him the following week. 

         "Well, then, I have nothing else to do today. Sure, I'll take one 
           of those beers." 

     I was feeling a little blue, and appreciated the opportunity to spend a bit of time in conversation with somebody interesting. I had already determined at that point in time, that I would be re-upping on my desire to die on my own terms within the next day or two, and as me and the fellow talked, he mentioned wanting to get a bicycle before long in order to commute to and from school. So I gave him mine. It wasn't a top of the line race bike or anything, but he was shocked; I simply told him that I was about to move and that I didn't intend to take the bike with me. The day before, I had taken my full collection of bike tools, accumulated by me over a period of over 25 years, to a community bicycle organization, telling them the same story. Our conversation that day was very pleasant; I was feeling mellow (as well as a bit blue), and the other guy had some great stories about his background as a digital technology artist and teacher. I regret that I have forgotten his name, but hope that he is well. He had no idea who he was talking to that day, this with respect for my plan; but in hindsight, I doubt I could easily have found anyone more friendly to spend my last afternoon with. Strange days, indeed.
     On May 04, 2010, I walked out of that apartment for the last time and made my way to the west side of the city, where I purchased some beer and a bottle of Ibuprofen. I then hiked up into the cactus and rock covered Tucson Mountains, and selected an off the trail and scenic setting for my next, and last, action. It was a beautiful early summer evening, and I greatly enjoyed my time there in that spot. But Ibuprofen, I later learned, will not kill you, even when taken in excess and in the accompaniment of alcohol. 
     Live and learn, right?      

  Sadly, and as most Americans with a reasonable awareness of national affairs (sic) probably know, our nation's most heralded competitor, on a par with the likes of Michael Jordan and Bruce Jenner (etc.), Lance Armstrong is most likely on the verge of being exposed as a textbook cheater, liar, perpetrator of scandal, and flat out low life, as new revelations about highly illegal drugging and administrative criminality emerge with respect for the highest levels of professional cyclings' representative officials. (NOTE: I began working on this article about 3 weeks ago, and in that time, Armstrong has in fact been exposed as such, and his seven Tour de France titles have been taken away from him, along with every other like award that he "athletically" acquired between 1996 and now, August, 2012.). 

     It is sad for me personally, today, because the obligation of riders like Lance Armstrong to the public good (and not to mention to his sponsors, etc.) is not too far removed from the public trust afforded to state appointed or elected officials who are obligated to the citizens of our state (and nation) in terms of overseeing public resources and caring for the public in very real terms. This is particularly true when you take into account a public hospital like The Arizona State Hospital, which is nothing more than an extension of the governor's office. But somewhere in the mix, the public gets left out; at ASH, the public is represented most clearly by the patients, for they are the only reason the Hospital even exists, and as such, they are the clients and constituents; and yet, the Hospital (the facility and its employees, not the patients) is protected by the state's largest law firm, The Office of Attorney General, an entity that I feel is obligated to the citizens of the state with no more or less consideration for any one population than any other. I have argued already in one court proceeding about the clear conflict of interest inherent to this arrangement, and I have also filed one direct ethics complaint to the Arizona Bar Association about the matter, but it is going to take federal intervention to meaningfully rectify the problem as it stand today.   

Only In Arizona, continued:
     
     Here in Arizona, meanwhile, the ongoing presence of clearly unethical state administrators directly belies the existence of a substandard public health care facility such as The Arizona State Hospital. It is that simple. From our current governor on down (as though you can get any lower….), patterns of administrative corruption and deceit glare out over the Sonoran desert like a vast array of gigantic spotlights; and even a cursory review of such patterns in the longer recent history our state, including but not limited to the activities of former governor Evan Mecham (impeached in 1988 [the same year Brewer was arrested and then let off for aggravated DUI] for fiscal fraud and obstruction of justice), to the murder of Don Bolles (blown up in his car in 1976 after initiating a news investigation into administrative state corruption with direct ties to the mafia), gives credence to my concerns about the depths of administrative misconduct that have, to date, allowed ASH and its administrators blatantly get away with the gross violations of The Americans With Disabilities Act, the Hospital Information Portability and Privacy Act, and just about every reasonable standard of mental-medical health care you can imagine.     
      Here are a couple more reminders of the kind of people I am having to deal with as I work to expose the graphic wrongdoing and substandard conditions at ASH in defense of the rights and well being of the patient community at ASH. By "kind of people", I am referring directly to the chain of command that does in fact oversee the entire infrastructure of Arizona's public system, including the behavioral health care system, wherein highly vulnerable and underrepresented seriously mentally ill persons (like myself) are continually mired down in a corrupt and morally degenerate network of administrators and clinicians who so regularly abuse the rights of patients at ASH that it falls nothing short of standard practice. And as shown in the following news stories, corruption of this sort runs deep in the overall system of state government in Arizona: 

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT: Was Arizona Governor Jan Brewer involved in an alcohol-related crash, and was she at fault?

ANALYSIS: On May 4, 1988, a car driven by Brewer rear-ended a van on Interstate 17.

The van's driver, William Holland, was not injured in the crash. Brewer also emerged unscathed, though there was significant damage to her car. 

DPS officers at the scene believed Brewer was intoxicated. Unsteady on her feet, her breath smelling of alcohol, Brewer failed a series of field sobriety tests. 

Brewer was placed in handcuffs and taken to a DPS station, where she was supposed to undergo a test to determine her blood-alcohol level. But no test was ever performed. After a discussion with a DPS lieutenant, two officers drove Brewer home. At the scene, Brewer told officers she had "one scotch." Later, at the station, she said she had had two. At the time, she denied being drunk.

TRUTH: And the case never went to a judge or jury. Brewer told different stories about what led to the crash. She told officers on the scene that a car had rear-ended her, pushing her car into Holland's, and then driven away. But officers found no damage to the back of Brewer's car, and they noted that a layer of dust on the bumper was undisturbed. The next day, Brewer told the Phoenix Gazette that a white truck had swerved in front of Holland, suggesting that he had suddenly braked.

(Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles 10/27/2010)

Feds probed role of Gov. Brewer in son's Social Security benefits

The case involves an examination of Social Security benefits paid on behalf of Brewer's oldest son, Ronald. He first received benefits as a minor after his father's death and continued to receive them as an adult because of a disability from mental illness.

     In 1989, Ronald was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. The next year, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and sent to the Arizona State Hospital. A court commissioner ordered Jan Brewer, as Ronald's "representative payee," to direct her son's monthly Social Security benefits toward the cost of his hospitalization. The Arizona Department of Health Services, which runs the hospital, declined to release records to The Republic regarding such payments, saying the records either were protected by privacy laws or did not exist.

(Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/07/2011)

Ties to Gov. Jan Brewer cloud medical board

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez on Jul. 28, 2012, under Arizona Republic News.
The man who appears to be lined up to inherit the $105,000-a-year state job as interim executive director of the Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board has strong ties to the governor’s husband, and there is a recent history of formal complaints against him. Republican Gov. Jan Brewer appointed Robert Gear to the board, which regulates about 700 licensed naturopaths who combine traditional medicine and natural medical approaches to treat patients. John Brewer, the governor’s husband, was executive director of the naturopathic board until 2001, when the board fired him amid allegations that he shredded public documents and misrepresented his credentials. Gear and John Brewer are known within the naturopathic community as longtime professional and political allies. Governor’s spokesman Matthew Benson said Brewer’s appointments are made at her discretion and that she receives input from “a variety of places.” He said John Brewer “had no connection” to the recent nominations to the naturopathic board. At a July 12 meeting, Gear recused himself from the board table while members contemplated his possible appointment as interim director. But he sat in the audience and berated members for their hesitation and vowed to use his relationship with the governor and her husband to get his way. According to e-mails, board minutes and other records obtained through public records requests, Gear has a history of accusations of rule breaking in his practice. Governor Brewer appointed Gear to the naturopathic board at a time when he was actually being investigated by the board for allegations of misbehavior; at a later date, the board determined there was sufficient evidence to find that Gear failed to adequately examine his patients, failed to maintain proper patient records, and used false and misleading advertising.

       "It's alright, as long as you get away with it." 

     On that note, enter the ongoing debacle of the most powerful law firm in the state of Arizona. 

TOM HORNE IS JOEL "the mortician" RUDD'S BOSS. JOEL RUDD, IN TURN, IS THE LEAD COUNSEL FOR THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL. GO FIGURE. ONE THUG TO ANOTHER, IN EFFECT. ONLY IN ARIZONA. 

FBI investigating Tom Horne for campaign violations

By Jeremy Duda - jeremy.duda@azcapitoltimes.com 

Published: April 2, 2012 at 12:07 pm

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne (Photo by Evan Wyloge/Arizona Capitol Times)

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that Attorney General Tom Horne illegally collaborated with an independent expenditure committee that spent more than a half-million dollars on negative ads against his Democratic opponent in 2010, the Arizona Capitol Times has learned.

Tom Horne Sues to Overthrow Voting Rights Act: What's Next, the De-Abolition of Slavery?Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is suing the federal government, seeking to overturn the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the law that essentially enfranchised America's minorities and prevents states from coming up with ways to keep them from the ballot box.

     Growing up in the 1960s, I had the opportunity to meet, and temporarily live with, international representatives of United Nations; this came about as a direct consequence of my father's status as a Full Commander in the United States Navy, and my mother's role as an assigned US emissary in Naples, Italy, and Bermuda, UK (where I spent the first year of my life), and New York, NY. I clearly recall, as such, hearing the well balanced and highly intelligent orations of men and women who were responsible for the needs of foreign nations that only came to speak to our nation's internal administrative benefactors (such as my mom) because they were desperate to bring friendship and dignity to the citizens of their given nations. I recall ambassadors from Kenya, Sudan, and Hungary sharing meals with me and my family, food and drink served over an enormous marble dining table that my parents acquired in Greece sometime well before my birth. Therein, I learned something about kindness and humanistic diplomacy flowing from men and women who, as a rule, had little or nothing to lose, at least not in terms of talking to a boy less than 10 years old.    
      How, exactly, this connects to my concerns about the criminal nature of the administrators and clinicians at The Arizona State Hospital, I am still not sure. But my deep respect for the well intentioned staff members- far and few as they may have been- definitely extends to those who came to America from Africa and the Caribbean, for indeed, some of the kindest and most capable staff that I came to know at ASH- nursing staff in particular, but security staff, as well, and so on- were of these cultural traditions and identities.

IN CLOSING:  Those exhibiting psychopathic behavior. "At the core of the psychopath is always a profoundly malignant narcissism," says Brian Russell, a clinical psychologist and attorney from Lawrence, Kansas. "They focus on what they need, and feel an entitlement to get what they need at the cost of anything to anyone else." No one statement more accurately illustrates my interpretations of the abuses of power and directly related patient abuse at Arizona State Hospital. I even had a therapist for a time in Flagstaff who immediately referred to Dr. Pervaiz Akhter's behavior towards me as being psychopathic. "Socially sanctioned psychopathy is prevalent in many facets of American culture, and manifests in a number of ways, some of which are more problematic to society in general than others. It is all about power and selfishness, and in some circumstances, these characteristics serve well. In places like The Arizona State Hospital, however, you have doctors who hold the very lives of their patients in their hands, and in this sense, their given authority extends far beyond the normal parameters of doctor-patient relationships; deformation of the power dynamic in such settings is common, for the doctors have no more training in overseeing the very lives of their patients than you or I do; and they may, in fact, be any patients' worst nightmare, because public hospitals are known for attracting less than the best- as in 'well'- psychiatric professionals, to such an extent that many of the 'health care professionals' in state mental hospitals are essentially sicker than many of the patients."    

     Arizona is a very, very unhealthy place for a mentally ill person to reside. I attest to this with all my heart. America, in itself, and as with the world, has much work to do in terms of recognizing the basic humanity of its mentally ill citizens (persons just like me); but we all, as Americans, also have the distinct privilege of residing and existing in a relatively well established democracy, and we also have some of the highest quality health care in the world today. This is common knowledge. There is no excuse for the substandard conditions and graphic patient abuse that I witnessed and was subjected to first hand during my thirteen long months of time at The Arizona State Hospital. Please visit my April 30, 2012 "Resource Ideas" article, and determine what you can do in defense of the patients at ASH today. Patient abuse is inhumane and criminal, and the ones at ASH most responsible for caring for the overall operation there need to be aligned with the interests and concerns of the greater public. Any less is simply unacceptable. 

paoloreed@gmail.com

RESTATEMENT: Highly Illegal Tobacco Sales By Staff: Call to Arms.

(2014) The following article was published in this blog in mid-2012, not long after my discharge from The Arizona State Hospital. No one specific issue relating to grossly corrupt mismanagement of the ASH facility more disturbs me more than the fact that for time immemorial, some proportion of ASH staff have engaged in smuggling illegal/regulated substances onto the Hospital grounds, which these staff then distribute such contraband to ASH's seriously mentally ill and disabled patients. Such staff do this at shockingly disproportionate profit (to the tune of $1000 per carton of cigarettes, for example), in order to grossly exploit the vulnerability those patients at ASH who are addicted to tobacco, and other like substances. This occurs on a daily basis in blatant defiance of state and federal law, and is in fact 100% in violation of Hospital/ADHS policy; with the willful complicity of ASH administrators/senior clinicians;  as well as highly entrusted state public heath care officials, such as ADHS Director Will Humble, who regularly touts the status and conditions at ASH as a "smoke free" environment. I have published several very critical articles (beyond this one) about this specific issue. And as illustrated below, I have always been willing to rely upon and/or support those ASH staff who agree with my concerns as they apply in this context. Patient abuse of any kind is highly illegal and sickening the conscience, and exploitation in this context is abuse in all senses.

FLASHBACK JUNE 2012

Highly Illegal Tobacco Sales By Staff: Call to Arms.

TO ASH STAFF: THESE MOST RECENT ARTICLES MAY SET A CHAIN OF EVENTS INTO MOTION, WHEREBY ACCUSATIONS OF WRONGDOING WILL BE DEFLECTED AWAY FROM ASH ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICIALS AND LAID LIKE A TON OF BRICKS ONTO THE SHOULDERS OF LOWER RANKING ASH STAFF. DON'T LET THOSE ASSHOLES GET WAY WITH IT! DO THE RIGHT THING NOW, AND COME FORWARD WITH YOUR OWN TESTIMONY ABOUT ANY AWARENESS YOU HAVE IN TERMS OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE HIGHER RANKING STAFF. REPORT THIS MATTER TO THE APPLICABLE STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES NOW, AND DO NOT HESITATE TO DEMAND THAT YOUR RESPECTIVE RIGHTS IN THIS CONTEXT BE DUTIFULLY PROTECTED. BETTER YET, BUT ONLY IF NECESSARY, SUE THE RAT BASTARDS, BECAUSE YOUR BOSSES HAVE BEEN CRIMINALLY SUBJECTING YOU TO THIS ISSUE FOR TIME IMMEMORIAL. IT HAS TO STOP SOMEWHERE, AND YOU CAN BE PART OF THE LONG OVERDUE CHANGES SPECIFIC TO THIS ISSUE NOW. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO DO THE RIGHT THING, RIGHT? GET INVOLVED, PLEASE. 
       THE UNITED STATES TOBACCO TAX AND TRADE BUREAU IS A GREAT PLACE TO START:

Tobacco Diversion

If you suspect illegal activity regarding the diversion of tobacco products or cigarette papers or tubes outside the legal distribution chain, please contact the TTBIntelligenceDivision. 

For information on the Federal laws that apply to the unlawful transportation, shipment, or sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products, please refer to Industry Circular 99-2, or contact the Intelligence Division.

The Intelligence Division can be reached by:

Phone: 1-202-453-2173.

E-mail: ttbtobacco@ttb.gov

Mail:
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
Attn: Intelligence Division, Room 200-W
1310 G Street, NW., Box 12
Washington, DC  20005

AND JUST AS A REMINDER OF BOTH YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS STAFF AT ASH, , AND MOST IMPORTANT TO ME, YOUR RIGHTS, HERE IS THE SOME STATE LAW THAT GRANTS YOU SUCH, AS WELL AS HOSPITAL'S POLICY ON THIS ISSUE. GIVE ADHS DIRECTOR WILL HUMBLE HIMSELF A CALL, BECAUSE THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE TO GO WITH THIS KIND OF CRIMINAL CONDUCT AND THE ISSUE OF PROTECTING YOUR RIGHTS THAN THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN.

  Arizona Revised Statutes (state law)

Title 36, Chapter 36; relating to smoking.

       G. NO EMPLOYER MAY DISCHARGE OR RETALIATE AGAINST AN EMPLOYEE BECAUSE THAT EMPLOYEE EXERCISED ANY RIGHTS AFFORDED BY THIS SECTION OR REPORTS OR ATTEMPTS TO PROSECUTE A VIOLATION OF THIS SECTION.

Arizona Department of Health Services Smoking Policy

      Arizona State Hospital is completely Tobacco Free, for all patients, staff, contractors and visitors. Arizona State Hospital is committed to:

1. advocate a healthy tobacco free environment;
2. ensure a healthy, comfortable and safe environment for patients, visitors and staff;
3. provide leadership, example and guidance in health promotion.

It is the policy of Arizona State Hospital to maintain a 100% tobacco free-environment for the preservation and protection of the health of our patients, visitors, and our staff, as such, smoking and use of other tobacco products are prohibited on Arizona State Hospital property. 

IN CLOSING: This a time to shine. I know that plenty of the men and women working at The Arizona State Hospital have what it takes to get involved with these activities. At stake are the most fundamental aspects of all ASH patients well being in every sense, but you all deserve the best possible place to work because your jobs are critically important, and believe because I know, it is tough work. My hat has been off to you folks since day one, at the onset of nearly two full years of hospitalization, and while I like to believe I am capable of a lot of things, I couldn't what you all do. Thank you, and keep up the good work. We need you. 

UPDATE 2014: Imagine if you will. Seriously mentally ill and disabled adults who are affected by chronic addiction to substances as a direct result of hospital staff who supply an illegal flow of products such adults, who are deserving of optimum care that can hopefully bring about some semblance of recovery. Serious mental illness, more succinctly, aggravated by chronic addiction and all that implies, which in contemporary society is known to be a crucial factor underlying the causations/manifestation of mental illness across the board. I have no reason to believe that this issue has been in any way addressed by any body of authority that I know for a fact is required to respond to my concerns in this context. This includes the failure(s) of ASH administrators/senior staff clinicians, ADHS/BHS officials, or even the established Human Rights Committee at ASH, which was only implemented as per the letter of law after I directly communicated with ADHS Director Will Humble about the simple fact that there was no HRC at ASH during the entirety of my time as a patient there, circa Jan. 2010-Feb. 2012. It is that bad, all of it. Substandard medical-mental health care in Arizona's sole long term public mental facility that extends into all associated bodies of authority. Bottom Line. 

paoloreed@gmail.com  

SECOND RERUN: APRIL 2014.
FIRST RERUN. Dateline April 2013.

The bulk of the following content was originally published in this blog in June, 2012.


"STATE HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES ACCUSED OF PATIENT ABUSE."                        Prescott Courier newspaper (AZ), 1978.

FAST FORWARD TO DECEMBER 2011: "Some State Hospital employees are selling drugs to mentally ill patients... and destroying records that document patient abuse... administered by a monstrous bureaucracy that expends more energy on paperwork than it does on patient care.... patient abuse has escalated in the last year while staff morale has plummeted as the result of the reorganization plan... staff members allege that records documenting patient abuse have been doctored or lost to protect employees from reprisals... employees have sold marijuana and amphetamines to patients…" (staff testimony, posted anonymously to the "crazycorycorner" website in 2011.)

"You Have To Be Kidding." Wherein, an article published 40 years ago rings so true to the current criminality of administrative and clinical authorities at The Arizona State Hospital that the only thing missing is Rod Serlings's voice. June, 2012: I awoke this morning to a tip sent to me from a friend in Arizona:

"There is something you have to see, it's online, very close to your project...." 

She pointed me to the place to look, and when I first saw it, I presumed it to be an Associated Press-Arizona region article about my current work as an advocate for the rights and needs of The Arizona State Hospital's current patient community, as those matters stand today,  (2012). Ergo, I was initially elated.

"STATE HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES ARE ACCUSED OF PATIENT ABUSE."

        The only problem, however, is that article itself was written on April 02, 1978. It is archived in the files of the Prescott Courier, available online. I  then shared this somewhat antiquated news article with of one of my closest associates, who is based in Phoenix, AZ, and these are his exact words: 

 "You have to be kidding."

Here are the headline and the first couple of paragraphs of this 1978 news story. Check it out (it is indeed available online) but as you review it, please remember, we are not in the Twilight Zone. We're still in Arizona, and it's 2012:

        

And there we somewhat have it. Two bodies of clear and irrefutable data, produced over a span of 35+ years, which undeniably establishes the fact that The Arizona State Hospital has been operating in violation of state and federal law since well back into the last century; and the associated fact that, in spite of such data being published in the mass media, those state level health care officials and senior level ASH staff who we know are 100% responsible for the operation of ASH have been functioning in blatant violation of the public trust. I have not fully digested the implications of this 1978 article (but this last sentiment sort of gets me there),  a accounting of highly egregious administrative negligence and criminal abuse of power/authority at The Arizona State Hospital that was well in existence over forty (40) freaking years ago!. The article itself is still today contained as an archived article from a small local newspaper called the Prescott Courier. 

Prescott is bigger today than it was then. I have a friend from Prescott, who is in at ASH at this very time, a really nice girl named Kris. This article was published in the spring of 1978, before Kris was born, and when I was in eleventh grade; my own issues with depression were interfering with my life by then, (albeit it less then a few years earlier for my chronic major depressive disorder emerged when I was around 13), but it was 37 years and four lethally serious attempts at suicide before I ever I ever sought help, which in turn led me into the bowels of ASH. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be an ASH patient in 1978, when my earliest mental health problems were still in emergence; but the fact is, conditions there have only improved at a snail's pace, in effect- if at all. This is, of course, the situation at most any such public mental health facility, as highlighted in societal history in America, and beyond. 

       Strange, the passing of our days. The old school warhorse nurses with the beady eyes and scaly viper shaped heads were already up to their witchcraft at ASH by 1978, and the substandard medical-mental health care practices at ASH were well in effect, proportionately- of course- to mainstream trends and other like features of those times. It was worse then than it is today. In theory. But at some point, somebody back then cut a hole through that particular version of the surreptitious corruption of ASH' administrative officers, got the attention of the press about the horrific treatment of patients at ASH and the directly related cruelty of staff, and this story appeared. 

As I have said more than once, I anticipate that before long a fresh new story about ASH will appear, an examination of its recent history in terms of exposing the truth in consistency with revisionist historians of the highest caliber available in terms of ethics, for they are our best only hope in terms of understanding how and why the rat bastards at places like ASH, state hospitals for the mentally disabled, somehow still exist in the middle of a city as big as Phoenix, and a nation that was founded upon honesty and open minded concern for the full scale diversity of its citizens and all of our respective needs. That's my opinion, of course, but I was raised in a family that is as American as it gets, and that's what I was taught. And as this fast forward reference to ASH circa 2012 proves, any number of ASH's longest employed senior staff have not altered their sickeningly abhorrent misbehavior, in brazen defiance of reasonably progressive improvements over these last 35+ years. 

       "Some State Hospital employees are selling drugs to mentally ill patients... and destroying records that document patient abuse... administered by a monstrous bureaucracy that expends more energy on paperwork than it does on patient care.... patient abuse has escalated in the last year while staff morale has plummeted as the result of the reorganization plan... staff members allege that records documenting patient abuse have been doctored or lost to protect employees from reprisals... employees have sold marijuana and amphetamines to patients…" (staff testimony, posted to the "crazycorycorner" website in 2011).

It is surreal, and yet, perfectly consistent with my still creeping suspicion that things at The Arizona State Hospital are far worse than I to date have been able to comprehend. This article confirms so bloody, bloody, much. Next up, given the depravity of Arizona Department of Health Services Office of Grievances and Appeals officials, I am willing to believe that the strategists- who are variously represented by the executive staff at ASH, along with their legal counselors, and gosh knows who exactly else that works for the the department of health (please don't let Will Humble turn out to be involved in this)- will claim something along the lines of me having read this article before today, at which time I planned some sort of conspiratorial attack on the state hospital in Arizona (which is not even my home state). Nothing can be put past the bottom feeding willingness of these people to do whatever the hell the have to in order to avoid accountability, primarily in order to grant them further opportunity to continue abusing the ASH patients as a matter of standard practice. It would be relatively simple for a tale of deception to be woven in order to defer the truth of my good faith dedication to this matter and rechracterize it as devilish and of ill intent. Basic stuff when it comes to shutting down the voice(s) of the oppressed, and the administrative staff at ASH are as basic as it comes; they are thick skinned, greedy, power hungry, and that's about it. Trailer trash, the whole pack of 'em, spittin' tobacco juice into beer cans and pissin' in the sink while grandma sleeps under the truck.

IN CLOSING: Let's do this thing already. Forty years of the same bullshit. The substandard conditions at The Arizona State Hospital and the rat bastards preserving those conditions are stuck in the mud. I have never believed that history repeats itself, and the situation at The Arizona State Hospital clears up that bit of haze for me. The substandard practices at ASH haven't improved because of the ineptitude of the one's responsible for overseeing the state department of health and behavioral health services. In this sense- because of this- history never changed, and the criminal activities of ASH staff must have just been swept under the rug when the heat came on (in the past), only to reemerge unscathed as soon as the smoke cleared. I am not willing to point my finger directly at people like Will Humble, not yet, anyway; but I will demand at this time that anybody who's paid attention to the facts that I have thus far exposed meet their full obligations to the people that they are required under law to serve, including Will Humble.  Let's get together on this mess. Anything. I am open minded to anything, if it will comprehensively address the problems and lead to ending the rampant patent abuse at ASH. I have remained civil, I have always asked for mediation rather than conflict, and I have always been the first one to come to the table in this context. All you people have to do, all of you as one, is quit lying. Etc. It's going to come to head at some point. Why not do this the easy way?

UPDATE: November, 2013. ADHS Director Will Humble is no longer outside of my scope of advocacy, as it were. For, over the last 12-18 months, he has actively participated in the grossly inaccurate flow of public information about ASH, in defiance of the public trust, his assigned role, and his related obligations to Arizona's citizens as a whole.

SECOND UPDATE: APRIL 2014. It is not quite two years since I originally published the bulk of the above information, and well before the current (2013-14) body of evidence that has irrefutably confirmed the legitimacy of my testimony began appearing in Phoenix area media outlets, such as ABC Ch. 15, and so on. Evidence which by now has amassed to such  point that, yes indeed, all persons directly responsible for these issues  are far more than ripe for direct accountability as per the letter of law. This is precisely on point with my contentions since I initiated my work in this context, knowing as I always have that individuals such Dr. Laxman Patel, Dr. Pervaiz Akhter, Arizona asst. Attorney General Joel Rudd, ADHS/BHS Deputy Director Cory Nelson, ADHS Director Will Humble, ASH CEO Donna Noriega- and literally dozens of lower ranking staff at The Arizona State Hospital, such as the war horse nurses at ASH whose formal training occurred in the dark ages - are guilty of engaging in highly illegal forms of misconduct, at the full expense of AZ taxpayers, and to the direct detriment of ASH's seriously mentally ill and disabled patients as whole. Grossly substandard medical health care that has been carried on for almost half a century, and they- all of them- are still getting away with it.

paoloreed@gmail