Of Joel Rudd, assistant Arizona Attorney General. As to his perspective on tragedies relating to The Arizona State Hospital.

(This is rerun/updated article originally published in June, 2012.) 


(UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2014: It has become clear, as per all elements of the various investigations into the substandard conditions and care practices at ASH, that administrative staff have engaged in "cooking the books" in order to further flaunt the standards of law, even as this relates to a very serious federal investigation that went down earlier this year (see "Former employee says Arizona mental hospital in getting worse, reveals new details in patient's death." Dave Biscobing, ABC Ch15, Sept. 2014). I am convinced that any deep investigation into possible manipulation of Hospital records in virtually all areas of concern would expose this pattern of grossly unlawful misconduct, for I attest to the fact that in my own very real experiences as an aggrieved ASH patient, I did witness patent untruthfulness and related gaps in the flow of protocol each and every time I submitted good faith reports of staff misconduct at ASH- and I did this at least 30 times, all told. The indications of this issue were exhibited by literally all involved senior ranking ASH staff, as well as in terms of the role that the ADHS/BHS Office of Grievances and Appeals play in such processes; and I of course have all records to the effect. That said, I will reiterate my very deep disdain over the associated fact that the one man most obligated to ensure that the operation of ASH adheres to the letter of law, attorney Joel Rudd, has for no less than 18-20 years been utterly complicit in furthering these issues by fallaciously abusing his authority in this context. No one form of professional I most abhor than dirty dealing attorneys, and I know more than a few. Arguably, however, no such legal official more rocks my sense of conscience than Joel Rudd, for well within the scope of his responsibilities are almost 300 of Arizona's most at risk and vulnerable to abuse citizens, the patient community at ASH, that is, all of whom and disabled under state and federal law by the affects of serious mental illness. This man needs to be brought before the appropriate authorities and required to explain precisely how and why it is that he has turned a blind eye to the rampant presence of unlawful staff misconduct at ASH- and I am referring to some employees at all levels of employ, most markedly I will add in the senior ranks and administrative offices of the facility itself- in defiance of his obligations as a member of the Bar.) 

    As discussed at length in several previous articles (see A Modern Horror Story: Wherein the Administrators of the Arizona State Hospital Willfully Put the Safety of the Greater Phoenix, AZ, Community at Risk In Order to Avoid Scrutiny, Leading to the Brutal Murder of a Citizen, April 05, 2012), and as reported in a four page feature news paper article (see Phoenix victim's family questions why man was free. "Mental hospital halted search; escapee now a murder suspect.", by JJ Hensley, Arizona Republic [newspaper], Sept. 27, 2011), a young Phoenix woman named April Mott was brutally beaten unconscious and stabbed to death in late August, 2011, by a man who had violently escaped from The Arizona State Hospital three months earlier. That escape was never reported to the public by ASH, in direct defiance of the facility's express duty to the public, a deliberate action designed to avoid scrutiny and accountability and which directly contributed this tragedy. For, in the subsequent months of June, July, and early August, the killer had literally been running amok in the greater Phoenix metropolitan district, but when in custody of phoenix police on at least 3 occasions, the authorities had no idea about the fact that he had violently escaped from ASH in late May. Had the administrators and senior clinicians at ASH merely issued a clear report to the effect that a violent mentally ill man was at large in the Phoenix area, the late August murder of April Mott would not have occurred. Bottom line.  

     April Mott was a beautiful, kind, and 100% innocent bystander of sorts to the details of this tragedy, with a loving family and many friends. All bystanders, in effect, until the day that April was murdered. At that point in time, her life was horrifically introduced to the criminally substandard conditions at ASH, and the related incompetence of ASH's administrators (including the interim hospital supervisor at the time, Ann Froio, and ASH Chief Operating Officer, Donna Noriega) and senior clinicians (including former ASH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Dingle); as well as any other officials of ASH who are directly involved with such affairs, such as Joel "the mortician- Prince of darkness" Rudd, ASH's representative legal advisor and staff member of The Office of the Arizona Attorney General.

      At one point in this past Monday, December 17, 2012, legal hearing (see Of Retaliation, Intimidation, and Criminal Abuses of Authority: The Hearings Continue, December 07, 2012, and An Update, December 18, 2012), I referred to the above described tragedy in citing the motivations of ASH administrators to utilize highly unlawful methods of intimidation and coercion in order to forcefully manipulate patient behavior, including direct retaliation imparted on patients who exercise their lawful right to report staff misconduct. In the above legal hearing, I explained  to the assigned judge that I had in fact reported both the escape described above as well as its connection to the killing of April Mott to the reporter, JJ Hensley, who published the newspaper article I mention (above); and the simple fact that I was subsequently subjected to overtly clear retaliation, including but not limited to an unlawful transfer from the most peaceful unit ASH to one of the most violent, where I was consequently subjected to ongoing violence that at times was imparted on me by staff themselves. The transfer itself was forced on me against my express wishes, and was not implemented in accordance with hospital policy, under the direct authority of then ASH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Dingle  and former ASH CEO Cory Nelson (both of them signed the formal document ordering the transfer, an order that again, occurred in patent contradiction to hospital protocol.) It was clear to me that the transfer occurred in order to cow me into silence as an outspoken critic of staff misconduct and administrative wrongdoing, and I emphasized this to the judge at that time.

     In response to my testimony in this context, with direct respect for the brutal death of April Mott and the willingness of Hospital administrators to conceal the escape of murderer Jesus Rincon Murietta, Joel "the mortician- Prince of darkness" Rudd stated the following:

          "You testify that because of this man having escaped from ASH in late May, 2011, a 'bad thing' happened. Is this correct?"
   

     I could hardly believe what I was hearing at the time, this astoundingly crude debasement of April Mott's death. A bad thing? What a Bastard! Referring to the tragic loss of this young woman, and the impacts of her brutal death on her loved ones and friends, as a bad thing…. The plain fact of the matter stands, that if ASH administrators had merely granted the public- including Phoenix police, etc.- fundamental knowledge to the effect that a very dangerous and known to be seriously mentally ill man was at large in the greater Phoenix metropolitan district, April Mott would be alive today. It is clear that Rudd has no regard for the wellbeing of the public, which flies in the face of his explicit responsibilities as a member of Arizona's state funded legal authority, the Office of the Attorney General.

     Believe me, I felt more than a twinge of anger at these words- a bad thing- for as per my own legal training, I recognized the simple fact that Rudd was willfully downplaying the significance of this tragedy in order to methodically condone the criminal practices of his client, the Arizona Department of Health/Behavioral Health Services and the staff of their subordinate facility, The Arizona State Hospital. Rudd, a highly paid public legal professional charged with the responsibility of seeing that Arizona's citizens as a whole are provided with the full protections afforded by every law in the book; and his client(s), the public employees of ADHS and the staff at ASH. As I see it, they are all representative of America's most perverted discord, and I cannot say strongly enough how critical it is today, with the Newtown tragedy still simmering on the forefront of our national conscience, for we as a people to stand up against these forms of corruption and administrative misconduct.  

     At that point in time when I heard Rudd's statement, had I been feeling more surly and or otherwise less civil in my behavior, I would have immediately drawn the courts' attention to the tragedy that befell the citizens of Newtown, Connecticut. For one has to wonder: How might have Rudd characterized the murders of 27 innocent persons were the defendant his client? As a "worse bad thing"….?

      The cold hearted characteristics of Joel "the mortician- Prince of darkness" Rudd was overwhelmingly evident to me at the time (yet again), and my stomach fairly well turned as I was reminded as well of the equally cruel conduct of various ASH staff who I had the distinct misfortune of having to interact with during my thirteen full months of hospitalization at ASH, including but not limited to primary attending psychiatrists such as Dr. Pervaiz Ahkter, Dr. Sylvia Dy, and Dr. Ruby Ramos-Roxas, and numerous ASH nurses and technicians (orderlies, they know who they are….). 

     To date, the ASH administrators and senior clinicians most centrally involved in this matter have not been held accountable in any sense of term, and each and every one of them is still drawing high salary paychecks provided to them by the public payroll system. Dr. Steven Dingle, as a matter of fact, was promoted to a higher position of responsibility within the Arizona Department of Health Services system, and in the last two hearings that that I have been involved with in the AZ Office of Administrative Hearings, his testimony has been deemed factual and accepted as truth in the form of affidavits, with little to no consideration for my request(s) to be granted the opportunity to cross examine him. It is a sham, through and through. Only in Arizona, further personified. To view the full in-line Arizona Republic article about the April Mott killing, see: 

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/09/27/20110927phoenix-victims-family-questions-jesus-murrieta-free-april-mott.html

(UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2014: Not only was Dingle granted a major promotion under the authority of ADHS Director Will Humble.... No, it gets even worse, for during the period 2012-2013, both  Cory Nelson and Donna Noriega were also bumped farther up the proverbial food chain, in graphic defiance of the established history specific to their utter lack of ethos, abject ineptitude, and associated criminality as supervisors of the ASH operation when these events going down. Under the equally inept authority of Humble), former ASH CEO Nelson is now the Deputy Director of the entire Arizona Behavioral Health Services network, while former ASH Chief Operating Officer Noriega is now ASH's CEO! IT IS THAT BAD, AND THEY ARE STILL GETTING AWAY WITH IT. ALL OF THEM.)  

    IN CLOSING: l have heard from and am now in contact with an actual patient at ASH, a man who I had never met until now, but who has struck me as a very nice and reasonably intelligent man. I am constantly thinking about my former patient-peers at ASH, many of whom I sincerely miss, and I most definitely worry about the crisis at ASH. In terms of this new contact, I am going to do what I can to see that his needs are met in an optimum manner; and while I obviously cannot divulge anything more specific about this communication, in large part due to the very real peril that I would put this patient in were ASH staff to learn that he is in communication with me at this time, I can state that he has several very serious concerns about specific issues at ASH and that he shares my willingness to see that the matters are addressed in accordance with established law and policy. It- this first contact from within the hospital itself- is the beginning of something very special, I feel, as my work slowly but surely advances and the exposure of the substandard mental-medical conditions and practices at ASH broadens. 

paoloreed@gmail.com