Laxman Patel, Another One of ASH’s Dinosaurs. Who has been complicit in allowing for a wide range of documented abuses of ASH patients for at least 30 years. And how might if feel to be Dr. Aaron Bowen today?

“Lawmakers approved the new hospital in 2000 after the old hospital was decertified. That had threatened federal funding in 1998, because a federal review found assaults, filth, overcrowding and patients getting the wrong medications." (New Hospital fails to win feds' approval. August 06, 2004. Arizona Republic newspaper.)

"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. 

ALERT: LAXMAN PATEL IS NOW THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AT THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL.

(Originally published April 07, 2013)

Wherein, a quick glance at a Phoenix newspaper article from 2004 illustrates the undeniable fact that the substandard conditions and related unlawful clinical practices currently in effect at The Arizona State Hospital are anything but unusual. The fact is, ASH and it's associate senior clinicians, including current Chief Medical Officer Laxman P. Patel, have a clear history of graphic misconduct that cuts to the quick in terms of established human rights in this context, but for some reason, the situation has effectively remained unchanged, and the clinicians who were centrally involved in exposed wrongdoing at ASH are still up to their evil ways. As follows.

“What do expect? This is the state hospital.” Dr. Laxman Patel. (Bj Medical College Ahmedabad, Gurat, India) This was Patel’s earliest response to my expressed concerns about staff misconduct and abuse of patients, January, 2012.

“Only if you stop with this nitpicking!” Patel made this statement in front of no less then six other staff members during one of my formal treatment and discharge meetings, in direct opposition to my continued willingness to openly report staff misconduct and abuses of patients, March, 2012. Taken literally, “nitpicking” refers to head lice; taken figuratively, the definition is as follows, via dicitonary.com “Looking for small unimportant errors or faults, especially to criticize unnecessarily (adjective)”; or in reference to fussy fault-finding (noun). 

Later in the same meeting, Patel demanded that I “find another doctor to manage (your) treatment here…”, which he subsequently realized was not actually possible as per Hospital protocol. This a doctor who has worked at ASH for at least 20 years, well back in the last century, during the time of the dinosaurs.

Friday, August 6th, 2004

New state hospital fails to win feds' approval.

The Arizona Republic newspaper.

Surprise review at facility for the mentally ill finds patients handcuffed, kept in seclusion for hours.

NOTE: As mentioned in the following newspaper article, the findings of this federally mandated surprise review in 2004 arose only four years subsequent to the Arizona State Hospital having lost its federal certification on the basis of documented and irrefutable substandard care practices and conditions. 

Surprise review at facility for the mentally ill finds patients handcuffed, kept in seclusion for hours.

The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX – The new Arizona State Hospital faces federal penalties if it doesn’t correct problems found during a surprise review that painted a grim picture of some patients not getting psychiatric care, being handcuffed inappropriately and being secluded for hours unnecessarily.

Federal officials have already rejected one state proposal for improvements at the hospital, which treats the state’s most seriously mentally ill. Another should be filed today. If the second plan is not approved, the hospital could lose its Medicare certification and as much as $2.7 million in federal payments. Federal officials could also pull $28 million in funding for Arizona hospitals that serve a large number of poor patients.

The findings come six years after a disastrous federal review that revealed dirty and dangerous conditions for patients. That hospital was decertified for two years. Two years ago the state opened the new $80 million hospital for the very patients that now concern inspectors. State officials had said the new facility was key to improving care. Inspectors with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reviewed 12 patient cases during a May visit to the State Hospital, at 24th and Van Buren streets. They found a hospital where patients were plunked in front of televisions or allowed to wander instead of being engaged in treatment.

The review found:

• Patients have cookie-cutter, incomplete or ineffective treatment plans. One patient who had been at the hospital four months told them he couldn’t remember any treatment other than “going to the library once,” “movies and popcorn” and “medicine.” A nurse told investigators he couldn’t leave his unit to attend activities because of his assaultive behavior and instead gets one-on-one time with staff and extra medications when needed.

• Patients are handcuffed at the hospital, which violates federal standards. Top hospital officials told inspectors that nurses ordered security staff to use handcuffs during emergencies.

• Patients are put into seclusion for hours. A female patient was secluded at 3:35 a.m. She was supposed to be released “when calm and cooperative,” and by 5 a.m. she was “crying, apologizing for wrongdoings.” Follow-up checks on her showed no reason for her to remain in isolation, but the staff didn’t release her until 6:20 a.m. Inspectors noted a hospital policy requiring such seclusion to end once a patient regains control and is no longer a danger.

Jack Silver, the hospital’s chief executive officer, said there were several reasons reviewers found the problems, but overall, “I think things are going good. We treat people, and there’s always improvements that can be made, and we’re looking to make improvements,” he said.

Inspectors noted that some patients didn’t take part in treatment and observed them wandering around; they didn’t see staff members following up with patients. One staff member said, “Once I let them out their door, they are on their own. I do not do the 30-minute rounds to check on the patient’s location and activity out on the mall or in the rehab groups.”

Silver said, “We need to obviously think more creatively about how to motivate people.”

He said the hospital must strike a balance between “personal choice and responsibility for treatment.”

The hospital changed some of its policies to comply with federal standards. Silver said the hospital stopped using handcuffs after inspectors left. He said he didn’t know about standards that bar the practice.

He said the hospital also wasn’t following federal standards that dictate how long a patient stays in seclusion; it is now in compliance. Finally, the hospital didn’t consider a brief “personal hold,” such as putting an arm around a patient, a formal restraint. It now requires a doctor’s order for such holds and documents them as restraints.

Lawmakers said they were surprised by the results of the federal review.

Lawmakers approved the new hospital in 2000 after the old hospital was decertified. That had threatened federal funding in 1998 because a federal review found assaults, filth, overcrowding and patients getting the wrong medications.

Rep. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, said legislators realized it would take more than a new building to treat the people who are committed there. “It comes down to operating the hospital, which is a difficult challenge considering you have the sickest of the sick there,” he said.

About half of the hospital’s 300 patients are under court-ordered treatment because they are a danger to themselves or others. The other half are criminals under court-ordered hospitalization rather than imprisonment.

      —————————————

INTRODUCTION: AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE FACTS INCLUDED IN ABOVE 2004 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE,  THERE IS A VERY REAL NEED TO MAINTAIN VIGILANT OVERSIGHT SPECIFIC TO THE SUBSTANDARD MENTAL-MEDICAL HEALTH CARE AND PRACTICES AT THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL. THIS INCLUDES TAKING AN OCCASIONAL LOOK BACKWARDS IN ORDER TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SITUATION.

THE FACT IS, ASH HAS AND POTENTIALLY WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE WELL OUTSIDE OF ESTABLISHED HEALTH CARE STANDARDS IF UNPARALLELED ACTION DOES NOT OCCUR WITH THE SPECIFIC INTENT OF ESTABLISHING PERMANENT OVERSIGHT AND UNAVOIDABLE ACCOUNTABILITY. AS PROVEN IN THE RECENT PAST, THE ADMINISTRATORS AND SENIOR CLINICIANS AT ASH HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE IN RADICAL VIOLATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL LAW, WITH FAIRLY RIGOROUS RESULTS IN TERMS OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION. BUT IN SPITE OF THE SEVERITY OF GRAPHICALLY INHUMANE ISSUES REVEALED IN THE RECENT PAST, INCLUDING HIGHLY ABUSIVE PHYSICAL PRACTICES AND RELATED CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE TO THE Nth DEGREE, THE RECORD INDICATES NO FORMAL CONSEQUENCES IN TERMS OF LEGAL ACTION DIRECTLY TAKEN AGAINST THE ONES MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR IT ALL.

THE SENIOR RANKING MEDICAL STAFF, THAT IS, AND MOST DEFINITELY INCLUDING STAFF PSYCHIATRISTS, EACK OF WHOM ARE REQUIRED TO DILIGENTLY MAINTAIN FULL AWARENESS OF ALL/ANY DETAILS SPECIFIC TO PATIENT CARE AT ASH. THUS, THE RECORD AS IT STANDS TODAY ALSO SHOWS IT IS SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH FOR US TO RELY ON OCCASIONAL ACTS OF ARGUABLY INEFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE, BECAUSE THE REAL PROBLEMS RESIDES IN THE BLACKHEARTED CHARACTER(S) OF INDIVIDUALS LIKE DR. LAXMAN P. PATEL, WHO IS NOW THE TOP DOG AT ASH, A FACT THAT SHOCKS THE CONSCIENCE OF ANYONE REASONABLY FAMILIAR WITH THE ONGOING CRISIS AT ASH. SO LONG AS THE STATE OF ARIZONA IS UNWILLING TO REMOVE SUCH INDIVIDUALS FROM THE PUBLIC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM THAT WE THE CITIZENS FUND WITH OUR TAXES, WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO EXERCISE OUR RIGHT TO TAKE ACTION. NOW.

——————————————————————————

Laxman P. Patel was already high in the food chain in terms of the clinical hierarchy at The Arizona State Hospital by the turn of the century, at which time and in his presence, ASH was decertified by the federal government due to  assaults, filth, overcrowding and patients getting the wrong medications. Patel, in fact, had worked at ASH for some 20 odd years by that time.

And Patel was there following the above reported intensive 2000-2004 investigation that was conducted by inspectors from the federal Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, willfully condoning a host of highly inhumane conditions and related practices at ASH were clearly revealed in this more recent investigation, which consequently led to what I can only describe, today, as a virtual slap on the wrist.

Patel was there as participant in it all before these matters were revealed. Patel was there during the period of "discipline" specific to consequent oversight; and Patel remained there- high on the food chain at ASH- after it all settled down.

And today, and as we now know, Patel has more authority then any other member of ASH’s overall medical staff. This is beyond unacceptable. It is horrific, and seemingly unimaginable in these times, and yet here it is, right in front of us. Because one can safely presume beyond all doubt that Patel was very, very aware of the details specific to those revelations at that time, and as such, was been in a profoundly great position in his own right to step forward and do the right thing, without needing to be redirected and brought into alignment with the established health care standards. Patel has, in fact, been in that position for three decades. Patel is a licensed physician currently practicing medicine in the United States of America, and as such, Patel is bound by professional codes of conduct that demand him to diligently take action in defense of the care needs and related rights of his patients, codes that flow outward from the Hippocratic Oath itself. 

In this very, very extensive context, Patel had no excuse for allowing such issues to occur, and nor does he today. 

But did he? Did Dr. Laxman P. Patel diligently take action to serve his patients to the fullest of his given ability as a doctor? 

    

NO, HE DID NOT. 

And what reason is there for anyone to presume that this man's character is such that he will act any differently today? 

     

NONE.

The plain and undeniable fact is that Patel his associate medical staff were willfully turning blind eye to the conditions that were exposed between 2000-2004, and once those revelations were established, Patel and company budged only so far as they needed to in order comply with directives that were derived of commonly recognized terms of decency. In other words, short of formal baby sitting, the doctors at ASH are incapable of recognizing such commonly recognized terms decency. They are incompetent, unethical, and due the full accountability that any other American is subject to in terms of justice.

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

AGAIN, THIS ARTICLE IS A TEASER OF SORTS, INTENDED TO SERVE AS A QUICK READ THAT CAN READILY ILLUMINATE THE ENDEMIC SHORTFALLS AND RELATED SUBSTANDARD HEALTH CARE PRACTICES AT THE ARIZONA STATE HOSPITAL, CONDITIONS WHICH ARE WILLFULLY CONDONED BY THE STATE OF ARIZONA'S HIGHEST AUTHORITIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE ARIZONA HEALTH DEPARTMENT, WILL HUMBLE, AND MYRIAD STATE EMPLOYEES WITH THE AZ DIVISION OF BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES WHOM FUNCTION  UNDER HIS SPECIFIC AUTHORITY. THESE PEOPLE ARE FLAGRANTLY BREACHING THE PUBLIC TRUST, AND THEY MUST BE HELD FULLY ACCOUNTABLE UNDER DIRECTLY APPLICABLE PROVISIONS OF LAW AND POLICY. THE BASIS OF THAT ACCOUNTABILITY MUST RADIATE UPWARDS FROM THE EXPERIENTIAL KNOWLEDGE BASE ACCRUED AT THE PATIENT-CLIENT LEVEL, FOR THE PATIENTS ARE THE ONES MOST FAMILIAR WITH THE FACTUAL REALITIES RELATING TO THESE MATTERS; UPWARDS AND OUTWARDS AND DIRECTLY INTO THE OFFICE(S) OF WILL HUMBLE, CORY NELSON, DONNA NORIEGA, STEVEN DINGLE, AND LAXMAN. P. PATEL, FOR THEY ARE THE ONE'S MOST CULPABLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE UNABATED STATE OF CRISIS AT ASH, AND THEY KNOW IT. UNTIL THAT HAPPENS, BAND-AID APPLICATIONS SUCH AS THOSE ILLUSTRATED IN THE ABOVE 2004 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WILL SIMPLY NOT SUFFICE IN TERMS OF MEANINGFULLY SERVING THE CURRENT NEEDS OF ASH'S PATIENT COMMUNITY. BOTTOM LINE. ONLY DIRECT PUBLIC OVERSIGHT FASHIONED IN A SUCH WAY THAT IT RESEMBLES OUTRIGHT BABYSITTING WILL SUFFICE, BECAUSE IF THESE SORTS OF MISCREANTS ARE TO BE CONTINUALLY GRANTED THE PRIVILEGE OF CARING FOR ARIZONA'S MOST SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL AND DISABLED CITIZENS, HISTORY HAS ALREADY SERVED TO PROVE THAT THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED OTHERWISE. 

Herein the need for these questions to again be asked:

Did Dr. Laxman P. Patel dutifully serve his patients to the fullest of his given ability as a doctor in the 1980, 1990s, early 2000s, or during my thirteen full months at The Arizona State Hospital (2011-2012)? 

No. He did not. 

What reason is there for anyone to presume that this Patel’s character and related competence as a doctor are any different today? 

None.  

And as illustrated by the above news article from 2004, Patel his associate miscreants were willfully turning a blind eye to the conditions that were exposed in relation to those revelations, even following very serious federal intervention and related decertification. This has occurred numerous times in Patel's history as an entrusted ASH psychiatrist.  In fact, following such interventions in that time, Patel and company budged only so far as they felt they needed to avoid further oversight. Just that much, no more. Which obviously implies that the doctors at ASH are incapable of maintaining themselves in accordance such commonly recognized terms of decency, regardless of opportunities to alter their given lack of ethos.

A BIT OF HISTORY SPECIFIC TO MY EXPERIENCES AT ASH.

1) During our third formal patient-psychiatrist meeting, in late January, 2011, when I again raised the issue of abuses of patients and other exhibitions of staff misconduct this I was witnessing or experiencing on a near daily basis, the first psychiatrist responsible for my care at ASH, Dr. Laxman Patel stated, verbatim: “What do you expect? This is the state hospital.” Approximately 10 weeks later, following his demand that I seek another primary psychiatrist there at ASH, I was assigned to the “care” (for lack of a better work) to Dr. Pervaiz Akther, who like Patel, was formally educated in a third world country (India, and Pakistan, respectively).

2) Within weeks of me beginning my relationship with Akther as my doctor, during which time I again openly voiced my increasing concern over abuses of patients, etc., this highly entrusted state physician stated, “Who do you think you are? You are only another patient here. There is nothing you can do about it.” Subsequently, one busineess day following the submission of a very well researched grievance document prepared on my behalf by a state employed human rights advocate in August, 2011, when I was thus subject to retaliation and forced relocation to one of the most violent treatment units at ASH, Desert Sage east, I was reassigned yet again to my third primary treating psychiatrist in less then seven full months, Dr. Lynn Lydon.

3) Upon our first formal meeting, when I stated my belief to Lydon that the relocation from the most non-violent unit at ASH to Desert Sage east was a retaliatory action imposed on me by the chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Dingle, then CEO Cory Nelson, this third doctor responsible for my care at ASH stated “Well, that may or may not be. But in truth, I don’t much care for rules, anyway.”

4) Not long later, I was yet again (!) reassigned to newly appointed ASH psychiatrist named Dr. Sylvia Dy, who was seemingly a nice enough individual, and yet- despite having practiced medicine in the ADHS/BHS consruct for over fifteen years, was basically incapable of clearly communicating in English; she having accrued her formal medical training in the Philippines, which like both India and Paksitan, is a nation known with no legitimate form of democracy and a history of abject abuses of human rights. 

I have said it before: I could not make this shit up if I had to. I am not one to raise concern about the nationalities of anyone residing in the United States, or to criticize anyone’s inability to speak English. (Anyone who knows me well would agree with this.) Not, that is is, unless these specific issues are in any way causing harm or other such trouble to others. As such, I sincerely feel bad, in fact, for raising the issue of Dr. Dy’s struggles in context; but the related fact is, the relationship between any individual and qualified psychiatric professional, particularly treating psychiatrists or psychoanalysts, relies very, very, heavily on oral communication. Such communication being what it is, there is no way that a treating psychiatrist with little in the way of language skills can be capable of providing optimum care to his or her patients. Likewise, as already mentioned, knowing as I do that the ASH physicians who I had issues with on the basis of what I know to be violations of American law and internationally recognized human rights, it is no coincidence that at least two of these arguably inept psychiatrists- Patel and Akther- come from places like India and Pakistan, where ruling classes and known dictatorships are well known to anyone of reasonable awareness for creating social conditions that defy the merits of democratic institutions or related human rights. And as for Lydon’s over disregard for rules and protocol, I can only suspect that she, in her own right, is in some way or another lacking in what it takes to play the role of a state employed medical professional. She may be American, in other words, but her attitude is little different from that of doctor’s who were granted the privilege of practicing medicine in America via the J1 training and certification program, which requires, in part, that:

Alien Physicians applying for medical licensure in the United States must:

• -Have adequate prior education and training to participate satisfactorily in the program for which they are coming to the United States;
• -Be able to adapt to the educational and cultural environment in which they will be receiving their education and training;
• -Have the background, needs and experiences suitable to the program;
• -Have competency in oral and written English;
• -Have passed either Parts I and II of the National Board of Medical Examiners Examination, the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination, Step I and Step 
•   or the Visa Qualifying Examination (VQE) prepared by the National Board of Medical Examiners, administered by the Educational Commission for Foreign 
• -Medical Graduates;
• -Provide a statement of need from the government of the country of their nationality or last legal permanent residence. Providing written assurance to the 
•          Secretary of Health and Human Services that there is a need in that country for persons with the skills the alien physician seeks to acquire and the alien 
•   physician has filed a written assurance with the government of this country that he/she will return upon completion of the training;
• -An agreement or contract from a U.S. accredited medical school, an affiliated hospital or a scientific institution to provide the accredited graduate 
•   medical education, signed by the alien physician and the official responsible for the training.

To more fully review the standards by which foreign educated/trained medical doctors are to be granted the right to practice medicine in the United States, please see: 

https://j1visa.state.gov/programs/physician/

I attest to the fact that- via my very real experience as an ASH pateint- the passing of time since those specific revelations arose has only led to these Rat Bastards slipping backwards again and into the abysmal roots of their earlier behavior. Vermin will do that, you know. Where any reasonably managed hospital would learn and evolve in relation to such processes, ASH is a public mental hospital, and such growth- regardless of influences, including federal intervention- is beyond the character and capabilities of ASH's administrators, staff psychiatrists, and various officials in the state's department of health. It really is that bad. 

There is no explanation for how and why a man like Patel would today be entrusted with overseeing the clinical affairs of The Arizona State Hospital. No explanation, that is, behind the fact that we are talking about the Arizona Department of Health Services and one of its affiliate facilities, the state mental hospital. Substandard medical-mental health care, and they are still getting away with it.

       HISTORY HAS SHOWN US TIME AND TIME AGAIN 

THAT THESE PEOPLE 

CANNOT BE TRUSTED. 

LET'S GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS, AND LET'S DO IT TODAY. THE PATIENTS AT ASH ARE SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL AND DISABLED, AND AS SUCH, HIGHLY VULNERABLE TO WHATEVER DEGREE OF INEPTITUDE PEOPLE LIKE PATEL ARE CAPABLE OF. AND AS WE NOW KNOW, THAT VERY INEPTITUDE EXTENDS WELL BACK INTO THE LAST CENTURY, AND IS STILL BEING IMPARTED ON THE PATIENTS AT ASH ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS. 

BOTTOM LINE: THE CITIZENS OF ARIZONA DESERVE BETTER.

DATELINE 2018: It is reasonable for any patient at Arizona State Hospital to report issues of any concern about potential staff misconduct. This, even if such concerns seem to staff, including primary care physicians, to be of relative insignificance. Given the extended history of state managed public mental hospitals, and most importantly with direct regard for ASH's history over no more then the last 18 years (!), I contend that such staff need to take seriously any like reports coming from patients, who of course have more familiarity with such patterns of stuff misconduct then any other individual(s) present in these facilities.  

“Only if you stop with this nitpicking!” My reports to Patel and every other administrative staff person about issues potentially harmful to patients were not, in fact, unimportant, unnecessary, or actual criticisms. Every one of the grievances I filed during the thirteen long months I spent at ASH included my sincere statements to the effect of seeking meaningful resolution, with no desire for conflict or undue negativity. Patel's willingness to insult me in the context was obviously a result of his desire to suppress my concerns, and in doing so, this highly entrusted health care professional virtually encouraged other staff present at that time to share his distorted attitude about such concerns. Making me, in effect, the butt of his unethical use of such insults. 

Assaults, filth, overcrowding, and patients getting the wrong medications. All during Patel's time as an ASH psychiatrist. These issues go rather well with the reasons for why the Hospital was again threatened with decertification circa 2013-2015, in addition to a current concern expressed by a current patient in the December meeting of the Human Rights Committee, concern about inadequate staffing that directly contributed to a very recent stabbing.

Assaults increased immediately after former-since fired CEO Cory Nelson stupidly cut back security staff. 

Filth arose under Nelson's supervision when he directed security staff to stupidly closed bathrooms on the off-unit patient grounds in response to staff supplied contraband, much of which was distributed in those bathrooms- but again, only after staff, with the cooperation of security staff, had as stupidly smuggled the stuff into the hospital. Wherein some number of patients were thus compelled to defecate somewhere these off-unit grounds, due to the fact that it sometimes takes several minutes or more to acquire reentry access onto the treatment units themselves.

Overcrowding due to shortsighted funding to regional mental health care resources, and the ineptitude of state health care officials and their counterparts in Arizona legislature, which ASH administrators could care less about. 

And patients getting the wrong meds? Well, it only happened to me once, when a nurse on Palo Verde who had acquired a resentment towards me due to my conflict with a technician named Elaine Traylor (they were friends),vattempted to dose me with Haladol, of all things, which is an antipsychotic drug that has a wide range of very debilitating side effects (I've never been diagnosed with any form or degree of psychosis). She didn't get away with it, thankfully, although she also experienced no oversight (I opted not to file a grievance about, as there were bigger fish to fry.) 

But as importantly, if not most importantly with respect for these continuous patterns of substandard care practice and conditions: 

Literally one after another appointed chief executive officer at Arizona State Hospital has been willful in allowing issues of criminal character to occur despite one after another federal process of oversight and intervention. 

From former CEOs Jack Silver, to since fired Cory Nelson and Donna Noriega, this has been the undeniable case. Criminally shortsighted administration of Arizona's sole long term public mental health care facility that imposes grossly unjust harm to patient-consumer-citizens deserving of optimal treatment there. Which the officials in Arizona's Department of Health Care Services/Behavioral Health Services have equal responsibility for. 

And today, 2018, we are again needing to consider whether ASH's current CEO, Dr. Aaron Bowen, or ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ are any different. 

Couldn't make the shit up if I had to.

Knowing as we do, Bowen's unrelenting defense of Dr. Steven Dingle, a known sexual predator with a documented history of abusing staff working under his direct authority, and the long, long running presence of Dr. Laxman Patel at ASH, what might we think today?

I am not entirely certain that Patel is still on staff at ASH, but via the resources I have reviewed specific to current ASH staff, I’ve also no reason to believe otherwise. 

Begging the inquiry: How might it feel to be Aaron Bowen at this time? To control the helm of a ship that due to staff incompetence has repeatedly sunk to the lowest aspects of the regulatory sea by which this Hospital is certified and licensed. As illustrated, at least some ranking medical staff have been 100% involved in this seemingly perpetual, scandalous history, staff who today work directly under Bowen's authority. 

How might it feel to be Aaron Bowen at this time? To bear the onus of  participating in the deeply disturbing attitudes at ASH and in ADHS, whereby such issues are only acknowledged when the feds do, in fact and on behalf of the care needs and rights of the patient community, step in and redirect the misconduct of ASH administrators. Again, under Bowen's immediate authority right now, these patterns of malfeasant staff misconduct, including efforts to suppress criminal activities (such as staff caused issues specific to contraband and associated federal laws), are still prevalent at ASH.

What might it be like to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing? A monster obscured by fog and flotsam? A human being of Machiavellian repulsiveness? 

Just one more bureaucrat working in state managed behavioral health care. That is Bowen in a nutshell. But is he as outright evil as the recent history of ASH represents, in fact?

Maybe he is, in fact, not as bad as I suspect him to be, so pray for him, why don’t you? 

Because I sure won’t.  

paoloreed@gmail.com