Fundamental Fact #1: Of Laxman Patel, a case study. Wherein, a fundamental inquiry into the causes underlying the substandard care at The Arizona State Hospital offers insight that can hopefully contribute to redress and resolution. 

"But the presence of retaliation and other such staff based misconduct  is perhaps not so commonly known when it comes to the operation of state managed mental hospitals. As the attorney who very recently spoke at a meeting of the ASH Human Rights Committee made clear, administrative abuses of authority arise in places like ASH far more regularly then she would have ever imagined prior to her becoming familiar with issues arising there even today. And out of overt resentment towards any threats to the status quo,  these abuses of authority do include, at times, the role of CEO’s such as Aaron Bowen, who may well take action against ADHS employees willing to conscientiously speak out of the patient community, and worse yet, against lawfully established resources of patient advocacy- e.g. ASH’s Human Rights Committee in itself." (This publication, January 26, 2018.)

"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." 
     (From the obituary of Mahesh "Mike" Patel. Tucson Citizen, July 09, 2010.)

"You, Dr. Cara Christ , are 100% responsible for doing the right thing today. So do it, already."

Dr. Cara Christ.
Director, Arizona Dept. of Health Services
2015-the present. 

Since her appointment to the highest ranking position in Arizona’s public health care system in 2015, Arizona Department of Health Director Dr. Cara Christ has repeatedly stated that there have been “great improvements” in the state’s sole long term public mental health care facility, Arizona State Hospital (ASH). To date however, January 2018, Dr. Christ has never provided any evidence or information about just what these “improvements” at ASH are, in fact. This is of very real concern to the staff of this publication, given that Dr. Christ’s immediate predecessor (Will Humble ADHS Director 2009-2015) willfully relied upon producing a pattern of overt and untruthful propaganda that served to delay a subsequent process of critically needed oversight and accountability at ASH. Propaganda that defied the realities specific to the ASH operation, including but not limited to preventable patient deaths, the tragic murder of a young Phoenix woman, and a wide range of patient generated concerns expressed in grievance submissions; and as such, granted the former administrators of ASH further opportunity to continue operatinASH in a manner deeply harmful to the welfare of the Hospital’s patient community. These issues have been exemplified by the information provided in this blog since 2012, as well as in a number of scathing investigative findings of the staff of ABC Ch15 circa 2013-2015; (As reported previously in this publication, at least three preventable deaths occurred due to this fact). 

The following article was originally published sometime in the first twelve months of the life of this blog, PJ Reed The Arizona State Hospital Patient Abuse. We are republishing this information as one means to remind our readers of how dismally substandard the operation at ASH was circa 2010-2012, and in order to raise consideration as to whether in fact any legitimate improvements have in fact come about since Dr. Christ was granted directorship over Arizona’s public health care system. 

----------------------------------------------------

Of Mahesh "Mike" Patel. A Friend.

(Originally published March 27, 2013)

TOPIC: Substandard Care practices and conditions (across the board).  

ISSUE: How/why is it that the behavior of so many of the nurses and psychiatric physicians at The Arizona State Hospital falls so very very far below the established standards that we the people expect out of licensed medical professionals? 

ANSWER: One reason flows from the fact that psychiatric clinicians at ASH, which is a state managed mental hospital, have no reason at all to concern themselves about customer satisfaction. No worries, as such, about job security, compliments of clientele, threats to the actual licensure, and on the list goes. 

In the public milieu, where we (the patient-client) have the option of considering the quality of care before agreeing to treatment provided health care resources,  professionals of any sort must take into account the quality of their services in order to ensure success. This is a basic as it gets, and a fact that anyone is familiar with. But in places like ASH, the patient-clients have virtually no opportunity to reject the presence of abusive or otherwise substandard behavior and related medical practices. I contend, via my very real experiences throughout the entirety of my 13 full months of hospitalization at ASH, that this has everything to do with why the conditions there are so graphically below par, and it somewhat applies across the board with respect for ASH staff at all levels of employ. All of them, in effect, are in a position to conduct themselves in blatant defiance of commonly established codes of fundamental decency with no worry at all about how their behavior will impact the flow of business that supports their income, and so on. It is that clear. 

I further contend that any number of the most abusive employees at ASH choose to work at ASH for this very reason. I attest to witnessing and being personally subjected to staff misbehavior that would absolutely shock the conscience of the public, and in going through that process, I would literally look at these individuals and ask myself: 

"HOW IN THE HELL DOES THIS PERSON GET AWAY WITH THIS? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? WHERE IN TARNATION DO THEY COME FROM?" 

Likewise, all the way up the chain of authority there at ASH proper and on into the offices of Arizona Department of Health Services/Behavioral Health Services, administrators and managers can turn a blind eye to reports or other evidence to the effect that these substandard conditions exist at ASH with little to worry at all about oversight and accountability. It is, as such, a trickle down effect of utterly sickening proportion, and the ultimate costs relating to this fact land squarely on the heads of Arizona's most seriously mentally ill and disabled citizens. This is unacceptable. The administrators and senior clinicians at The Arizona State Hospital are engaging in highly illegal and grossly inhumane abuse of their patients, and they are getting away with it lock-stack-and barrel. 

IN CLOSING: That's it. Fundamental Fact(s) #1, merely designed to raise our basic understanding of how and why the patients at The Arizona State Hospital are being subjected to graphically substandard medical-mental care and practice. 

THE STAFF AT ASH ARE NOT ACCOUNTABLE TO THEIR CUSTOMERS, OR ANYONE ELSE, FOR THAT MATTER. THEREIN LEADING TO ALL ELEMENTS OF ISSUES THAT THIS BLOG WILL IN SHORT TIME EXPOSE.

This is a process, nothing more, nothing less, and in time the needs of ASH's patients will be respected and their related rights will be honored. All things in their time, and this is one way to move the process along.

DATELINE 2018: As should be obvious, this 2012 article, and its second part (Fundamental Fact  #2) were oriented towards issues arising due to structural shortfalls at the Arizona State Hospital (as described by the fact that ASH is neither a for profit or a non-state managed health care facility), and the role of medical staff who essentially rely upon this fact in order to so much as find employment. 

I do not prefer, by any means, to criticize any persons nationality, or cultural roots, or race. For most any reason. But for, that is, in circumstances wherein such dynamics contribute to unlawful issues that I know pose harm to vulnerable Americans who have little to no means to defend their interests. And while it is hardly the fault of persons such as Dr. Laxman Patel that they were born and raised in nations lacking in democratic ideals or societal concern for human rights (be it India, Pakistan, or the Philippines), I do feel it is necessary for such individuals to take a good hard look at themselves if and when such issues arise specific to their activities (in America, or anywhere else, for that matter). 

I am of American Indian (Chickasaw) heritage on my father's side, and of Irish-German heritage on my mother's side. As such, I have a reasonably firm idea of what it means to be multi-cultural, which also comes about via my formal education, including my BA in American Studies (UNM 1996), MA in American Indian Studies (UA 1999), and the fact that my scholarship to the University of Arizona College of Law was afforded me through that school's Federal Indian  Law and Policy program (2001-2004). 

As a boy, my parents regularly hosted individuals in our home who haled from various nations throughout the world, individuals who were ambassadorial staff spending time in USA as guests of the New York Office of the United Nations. Such men and women would travel to New Mexico and stay with us for days on end, on the basis of wanting to visit one of the most culturally diverse states in USA. I learned therein that no individual from any part of the world is inherently incapable of being a good person. While also learning, in relation to these experiences, that in some cases, these individuals came from of the most dangerous areas of the world, where even today human rights abuses are standard par to societal and cultural practices. 

Multi-cultural, yes I am, but also 100% American in my specific case, my American Indian father having served as a full  Commander in U.S Navy, and my German-Irish mother having at one time been a regional chairperson in the League of Women Voters and a known advocate for the rights of women in USA and beyond. 

This is all fact, it is who I am first and foremost, and it all compels me today to serve the interests of my peers who, like I, know of what it means to be affected by mentally illness. To be mentally ill, and to have to rely upon the public mental health care system. 

Couldn't make any of it up if I had to. 

paoloreed@gmail.com