Arizona State Hospital: Dateline October, 2018.

INTRODUCTION

Cara "Nice smile" Christ

Patients at the Arizona State Hospital (ASH, "Hospital"), patients' families, and the general public rely on the Hospital and the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to provide accurate disclosures of incident and accident reports as one means to ensure that ASH is providing safe and humane care practices and conditions in the interest of the ASH patient community as a whole, in accordance with state and federal law. 

Likewise, public resources such as the Arizona Center for Disability, which functions under state and federal guidelines, are to be provided with patient medical records and reports upon request. This, too, a means to protect the interests of ASH patients as a whole. 

Any willingness of state employed health care officials to violate this area of law and policy needs to be promptly addressed, bottom line.

Over the last 6-8 months, Dr. Cara "Nice smile" Christ has increasingly engaged in ignoring these such documented issues, which are known to negatively impact the ASH patient community; if not- in fact- directly participating in these matters as a means to suppress the presence of such issues. Christ's recent effort to defend the depraved history of longstanding ASH CMO Dr. Steven Dingle basically alerted we, the staff of PJ Reed The Arizona State Hospital and Patient Abuse, of her given lack of character as the most highly entrusted public health care official in the state of Arizona.   

As to Dingle, than, and his kind. Recent attention directed to individuals such as actor Bill Cosby and newly appointed United States Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanuagh, have been based in part on allegations, versus actually documented physical evidence. Dingle's's record, on the other hand, is documented in the records of the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners (See: Arizona Board of Medical Examiners investigation #9412, May 1997.) Proof beyond doubt that Dingle is not one proven as capable of being relied upon in terms of granted authority over persons of lesser power.

It would be nice, perhaps, to believe that the twenty years of time which has passed since Dingle's documented conviction in this matter stands as evidence to the effect that he can actually be trusted. (This is the basis of Christ's defense of the man). But in terms of sexual abuse in general, its long lasting impacts on victims (I can attest to this, as a person sexually abused approximately fifty full years ago; related, as to the incompetence of ASH psychiatrist's in a context of harms related to sexual abuse, please see this blog: "Laxman Patel Is Now The Chief Medical Officer at the Arizona State Hospital" (April 04, 2013), and the underlying psychological characteristics of persons who engage in such depraved misbehavior, I contend that it is patently unsafe to the public interest to put disabled persons under his kind's direct care.

It is more then difficult to grasp why or how a man known for sexually abusing other persons (women, so far as we know, as per the record) who are disabled or otherwise vulnerable to abuse, negligence, or exploitation, would even be entrusted to oversee the care needs of one of Arizona's most at-risk populations. And yet, there we have it, just one more pattern central to the practices of Arizona's public health care system.   

DISCUSSION

Patterns have emerged over the last year that clearly suggest a willful attempt of Hospital administrators and state health care officials to suppress such information. Suppressions or this kind are not only an arguable violation of numerous state and federal laws, but also stand as a very disturbing threat to the welfare of the ASH patient community. It is the opinion of the staff of PJ Reed The Arizona State Hospital and Patient Abuse that all elements of this matter are occurring to the detriment of ASH patients, and represent a clear willingness of ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ and her immediate underling, ASH CEO Dr. Aaron Bowen, to ignore the rights and wellbeing of ASH patients in favor of their own selfish interests.

This, of course, is nothing new in terms of the full body of this blog publication, originally founded in early April, 2012, less then six weeks following my (primary author and editor PJ Reed) discharge from ASH on February 21, 2012. Nothing new, as well, with respect for my overall experiences as an ASH patient. Over a period of thirteen (13) full months, I attest to having been emotionally, psychologically, and on a least one occasion, physically abused by both lower ranking Hospital staff, as well as ASH administrators (several of whom have since been fired). And when I, as an ASH patient and consumer of services from ADHS, lawfully took action to report issues that I knew to be of harm to myself and my patient-consumers, I was patently retaliated against by ASH administrators, including Dr. Steven "Hypersexual" Dingle. 

During that time, Hospital administrators working in direct collusion with senior medical staff willfully manipulated disclosures of information about ASH which, in one horrific case, directly contributed to the murder of a young Phoenix woman, who would have had no actual connection to those Rat Bastards if not for their sickening selfishness. 

It was that bad then. Is it really any better today?

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Following, herein, is a summary of issues that we have been paying close attention to since early fall, 2017. All of which portray beyond doubt that things at ASH have not much if at all improved since my time there. 

Very, very disheartening to be forced to believe this. But it is what it is.      

- In late November, 2017, the Hospital's CEO, Dr. Aaron Bowen, (ASH) flagrantly interrupted a current ASH patient's expressed concern about the highly questionable record of longstanding Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Dingle during a meeting of the (ASH, "Hospital") Human Rights Committee ("HRC"; now known as the ASH Independent Oversight Committee, "IOC"). Specifically, Dingle has a known public record of sexually abusing women working directly under his authority (See this blog, June 24, 2015, "Of Dr. Steven Dingle"; and, "Arizona State Hospital top doctor has a history of sexual misconduct, harassment." David Biscobing. KNVX/ABC Ch15, December 13, 2017.) In reaction to the involved patient's attempt to express this concern, Bowen cut the patient off mid-sentence by stating "I can't have folks calling my CMO a sexual predator in public." In our opinion (and we are far from alone), this action was and still stands as a gross violation of the involved patient's first amendment right to free speech. Of equal concern is that, by attempting to suppress this flow of communication in a public setting (as per Arizona law, all meetings of IOC are a matter of public record), Bowen's clear intent was to limit the public's right to know of issues that may threaten the welfare and interests of the ASH patient community. Dingle is as a matter of plain fact, a known sexual abuser of women. No amount of time diminishes this, bottom line. 

- A short time after the above incident, following the unwillingness the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), under the authority of ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ, to provide media sources information in context, an ADHS statement about the matter was issued in a formal announcement of sorts. This statement included, in part, "Dr. Aaron Bowen, Arizona State Hospital Chief Executive Officer, did not prevent anyone from sharing comments or concerns during the Human Rights Committee meeting." This statement- as per the actual audio recording of that meeting- is patently untrue. Christ justified Bowen's action by characterizing the patient's expressed concern as "inflammatory," despite the patient having nothing other than reasonable concern- expressed in actual comments- about an issue that is of no less critical today then it was at the time that Dr. Dingle engaged in this greatly disturbing misbehavior. As such, and beyond seeking to diminish the significance of Dingle's sordid history, Christ willfully violated the involved patient's constitutional rights in no less significant a way then Bowen had in previous days. Standing as one more clear bit of evidence specific to suppressions of public information, an issue that poses direct threat to the welfare of the ASH patient community. 

- Near simultaneously, ADHS attorney Greg Honig, willfully attempted to demand that Committee members strike the patient's expressed concern from the formal minutes of the related Committee meeting, overtly seeking to limit what patient's have to say during the public comment portion of such meetings, and effectively engaging in the same pattern of denying public access to information that Bowen and Christ had previously engaged in specific to the care practices and conditions at ASH. For state employed attorneys, all of whom function under the authority of the Office of Arizona Attorney General, to engage in violating any citizen's constitutional rights is a blatant violation of the terms of the license by which they are permitted to practice law. Herein, we also see that the attempt to suppress public information about the operation of ASH extends well into the construct of the state of Arizona's greater administrative construct. 

- In March of 2018, ADHS issued a statement entitled "Arizona Department of Health Services Strengthens Privacy Protection for State Hospital Patients Policy Ensures Compliance with State Law." This action was and still stands as  an overt action to stymie the good faith and lawfully required efforts of IOC to serve the interests of ASH patients. Christ characterized this action by stating that "these new procedures will allow Hospital and the Human Rights Committee to work more collaboratively and efficiently within the requirements of state and federal law for the rights and best interests of of our patients...." Classically propagandized baloney designed to distort truth and reality. Herein we again see clear indications of highly entrusted state officials trying to thwart dissemination of public information about issues the care practices and conditions at ASH.

- In April, 2018, Arizona Senator Nancy Barto, the current Chairman of the Arizona legislature's Committee on Health and Human Services, subsequently acted in support of the lawful function of the ASH Human Rights Committee by introducing Arizona Senate Bill 1450. This bill was passed in the following weeks, and signed into law by the state's governor, Doug Ducey, in part renaming the the ASH Human Rights Committee as the ASH Independent Oversight Committee. Of central concern to Senator Barto, as well, are several other issues, including but not limited to the state's denial of IOC members to meet with ASH patients being treated for mental illness on the Hospital's forensic wing. All ASH patients, regardless of being on the forensics side or not, are affected and disabled by serious mental illness, and as such, are consumers of public services to be provided by ADHS. The general flow of these services are to be monitored by both IOC as well as ACDL, and in this context, there is no justification in denying forensics patients access to the services provided by IOC and ACDL.  

- Much more recently, and- as I see it- as an undeniable consequence of her lack of character as the state of Arizona's most highly entrusted public health care official, Cara Christ has been identified as the central defendant in a lawsuit, filed less then one month ago by the Arizona Center for Disability Law (ACDL). The formal filing in this matter includes the following allegations: "On September 12, the Arizona Center for Disability Law (ACDL) filed a lawsuit against the Arizona State Hospital (ASH) and the Arizona Department of Health Services for refusing to provide access to the facilities and patients of the ASH system. Under the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) Act, ACDL is required to monitor the conditions of facilities housing individuals with mental illness, and investigate incidents of abuse and neglect in those facilities. ACDL alleges that ASH has impeded their ability to accomplish this mandate by denying them unaccompanied access to the facility and its residents." (See: District Court for the State of Arizona case #2:18-cv-02845-BSB.) Herein, ACDL has provided direct evidence specific to the willful intent of Christ and Bowen (and on that list goes) to ignore the welfare of ASH patients and the interests of patients' families, as well that of the public, in order to preserve their own selfish interests. 

- Most recently, during the September 20, 2018, meeting of IOC, records were presented showing significant gaps in the required flow of ASH incident and accident reports and records. It is also apparent that there may have been willful deletions of some elements of these records. This- all of this- is on point with the misconduct of former-since fired ASH administrators Cory Nelson and Donna Noriega, and former-since fled ADHS Director Will Humble. And it is all equally consistent with described patterns provided above, wherein current ASH administrators (Bowen) are colluding with current state health care officials (Christ) in order to further unlawful denials of patient rights and care needs. 

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IN CLOSING

We would have to go back to 1998 or so in order to determine who in the ADHS system actually/idiotically hired Dr. Steven Dingle to serve as a primary care provider in the state's sole long term public mental healt care facility. Whoever the hell it was (!), this occurred in defiance of Dingle's 1997 record as a sexual abuser. Frustratingly, this is of little matter today. For the fact is, Dr. Cara Christ and Dr. Aaron Bowen are effectively acting in the same manner today, turning a blind eye to Dingle's known history in context, putting client-consumers of ADHS' overall services at risk of harm. Herein the issue at stake, to see that these people are not granted opportunity to further Dingle or any other such dirtbag's presence in the ADHS system of care. 

On another note, then: An article came our way just yesterday, produced by Mariana Dale of the Phoenix area KJZZ 91.5 radio network, and entitled "Lack of Proposals Slows Addition of Health Services to Arizona State Hospital Campus." This matter relates to the hope of ADHS to shift the operation of ASH into a for-profit entity. This is 100% on par with the privatization of prisons. ASH is and shall not be a prison.  But in AZ, profit oriented restructuring of such institutions is as common as cacti, and every bit as a highly potential threat of harm should that threat not be taken seriously; while on a national level, very much considered to be in defiance of the welfare of both prisoners and patients alike. We have written already about Aaron Bowen's history in the Arizona corrections industry, very on par with the pre-ASH history of former-since fired Cory Nelson. 

For this reason alone, I contend that neither of these men hold legitimate qualifications in a context of the care needs of any disabled population, and most particularly, perhaps, persons affected and disabled by serious mental illness. 

Bowen's comments on the matter: "Frankly, I'm surprised there wasn't a bigger response than there was.... We kind of came up with this vision of having a Center for Psychiatric Excellence which would really in our minds provide a continuum of behavioral health services ranging anywhere from outpatient services, supportive housing up to the highest level of care."


And WTF?!? "Kind of came up with (really-kind of, or just sort-of-kind of?) this vision (hallucination?) of having a Center for Psychiatric Excellence which would really (really-really, or just sort-of-really?) in our minds (sociopathy?).....", and on I could go.

Frankly speaking in my own right, where is the surprise? Who in the hell would want to do business with as whacked an operation as ASH? What, you think all the shit hitting the fan today is out of the limelight, Bowen? Or that ASH's far longer history has been buried, just as you'd like to see current information buried? Think again.

"And there it is again, "Center for Psychiatric Excellence". This single phrase is one of the most distorted misrepresentations of reality on the record today. A concept (or whatever) flowing from neither older or far more recent history, but rather from the "minds" of health care officials who dedicate themselves to misleading the public as a matter of standard practice. Conceptualized (or whatever) as a hoped for means to further the substandard conditions and care practices at ASH, instead of actually serving the needs of the patient community. Just more goddamned propagandized baloney to the nth degree, arguably narcissist in form and clearly  designed to present a warped image of truth.  


What's so "excellent" about willful refusals to disclose as per the law public information that can ensure ASH patients are being provided safe and humane care?

What's so "excellent" about being nearly stabbed to death as a direct consequence of these failures? 

What's so excellent about losing a family member due to a death that, as a consequence of these failures, Hospital staff could have prevented?

What's so "excellent" about allowing a known sexual abuser serve as the Hospital's top doctor?

And what's so excellent about having your constitutionally established civil rights violated by the Hospital's chief executive officer when you (as an actual patient) express concern about this sexual abuser's presence on ASH's medical staff?

The plain fact is that: You have to earn a rating of excellence. You don't just go around calling yourself excellent and then expect others to take that for granted. A ten year old knows as much.     

Willful failure to provide accurate disclosures of incident and accident reports is extremely wrong, as in unlawful. This is the bottom line, and all involved parties know it. And to know as we do as per the discussed lawsuit, willful efforts to hide patient records are 100% on par with this form of wrongdoing.   

You have been outed (again). You were warned long ago (again). 

And you will reap what you sow (again). 

paoloreed@gmail.com