Corrupt Social Worker Staff At The Arizona State Hospital: Wherein I Again Initiate Contact With The The AZ Board Of Behavioral Health Examiners

THIS ARTICLE DIRECTLY RELATES TO AN APRIL 18, 2012, ARTICLE OF THE SAME TITLE, AS WELL MY JUNE 06, 2012: The Role Of State Ombudsperson At The Arizona State Hospital: "The typically mismanaged evolution of a patient grievance report at The Arizona State Hospital." (Sonya Serda, photo left)

Auditors find fault in behavioral health board.
                                                                                                           

September 01, 2012 5:00 am  •  HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX -- The board responsible for protecting the public from bad counselors and non-medical therapists is slow to handle complaints, state Auditor General Debra Davenport said Friday. In a report to the Legislature, Davenport said more than half the complaints closed by the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners in the last two years were not resolved within six months, the standard generally used to evaluate how all regulatory boards do their jobs. And she said the issue is more than academic.

        "Lengthy complaint resolution times can put public safety at risk because licensees can continue practicing unchecked until the board takes action," Davenport said.
        In a formal response to the report, Debra Rinaudo, the board's executive director, said her agency already is working to implement changes suggested. The board regulates and licenses counselors who work with individuals and families to treat mental, behavior and emotional problems, marriage and family therapists, social workers who provide services through various organizations and schools, and substance abuse counselors who specialize in addiction prevention, treatment, recovery support and education.

     Oh, man, oh man! You best hold on to your hats, Robert Washington, and all the rest of you bottom feeding ASH social workers, particularly the supervisors in that department (including Laura, or Lara, or whatever the hell your name is), because I have a record of very well founded complaints that I made to the AZ Board of Behavioral Health Examiners about your departments' staff-wide willingness to engage in graphic violations my constitutional rights when I was hospitalized at ASH from early January, 2011, to late February, 2012. 
     Upon reading yesterday's news report in the Flagstaff Daily Sun (cited above, in part) about the failure of the AZ Board of Behavioral Health Examiners (BBHE) to dutifully follow the provisional rules applicable to investigations of such complaints, I gained a far better idea of why it is that I have not, to date, heard back form the Board about my complaints, and any concerns I had about this delay have been put at ease. 

BACKGROUND

     The social workers at The Arizona State Hospital play a central role in any/all patients' relationship with the greater world outside of ASH, particularly with respect for discharge planning and other non-medical aspects of the patients status while hospitalized there. As such, they are the patients' direct line of authority in terms of processing one's life as discharge from ASH and entry back into society approaches, and the social worker therein has pretty clear obligations in terms of granting the patient as much practical hope as may be possible in this context. In my experience, however, the social workers at ASH that I interacted with most closely (including several supervisory staff) blatantly engaged in abusing the flow of procedure specific to my personal discharge planning and directly related efforts to establish my needs as this process evolved over a period of about 7 months. On more than one occasion, I was denied access to personal records, for example, in gross defiance of my rights as provided in The Hospital Information and Portability Act, a matter that is still being considered in an ongoing investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights. On another occasion, my assigned ASH social worker, Robert Washington, and a senior social services staff member named Veneranda Heffern, denied me the right to have a personal representative of my choice present at a very critical discharge planning meeting, also known as a "staffing," an act that was in gross violation of my most fundamental rights as a person, patient, and consumer; at the time, it was clear to me that their respective intent was to deny me full self determination and independent representation as a matter of conducting themselves however the hell they wanted to with no fear of oversight or accountability and in direct defiance of my clear requests in this context, and their behavior at the time made me feel as though I had no rights and was worthless and below them as a human being. Very serious stuff in terms of well established health care ethics, law, and policy. The full list of obvious social worker misconduct that I documented while hospitalized at ASH is quite a bit longer, and I am now in a position (thanks to the news report cited above) to delve a bit more aggressively into seeing that my concerns about such misconduct are addressed in a meaningful manner. 

     Likewise, when it comes to the role of the hospital "patient advocate," Sonya Serda, there are at least 9 unresolved patient grievances (complaints) that I filed in the latter months of my time at ASH, in good faith and in full compliance with standard protocol; issues that are only "unresolved" because they are grievance reports that Sonya Serda never responded to. The patient advocate at ASH is any patients' first and only direct avenue for seeking redress when they are subject to abuse or any other like form of staff misconduct; as such, Sonya Serda represents herself as being trustworthy and compassionate about patient wellbeing, a representation which I regrettably found to be false. And with the 9 aforementioned unresolved grievances in mind, the applicable time limits are far past, and the safety of the patients is at risk because the misbehaving staff who I reported have been allowed to "continue practicing unchecked…." As such, my right(s) to meaningful redress and relief in relation to these grievances have also been and are still being grossly violated in a manner that I feel is 100% consistent with the concerns that the State Auditor's office expressed about the risks associated with delays in such grievance and complaint responses, as follows (from above): "Lengthy complaint resolution times can put public safety at risk because licensees can continue practicing unchecked until the board takes action." It is obvious to me that Serda and her superiors have come to assume that because I am no longer a patient at ASH, I have chosen to leave those issues unaddressed. But nothing could be farther from the truth. I am not dead, after all, and that's pretty much what it is going to take before I back off on my dedication to seeing that oversight and accountability be applied in direct relation to all and any of my personal experiences at ASH. As always, I have full copies of all such grievance reports, and I am well prepared today in terms of knowing what to do about the fact that my rights in this context are still being violated by Sonya Serda and her cohorts in the administrative offices at ASH.  

ANALYSIS

     The patterns of failure to meet their basic obligations that I witnessed in terms of the social worker staff I closely interacted with at ASH were directly condoned by executive staff such as former Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Dingle during this time; on at least three specific occasions, members of the social services staff, including Megan Mischer, Robert Washington, and a social services supervisor named Laura (or Lara?), immediately deferred to Dingle when I pointed out the fact that their conduct was in direct violation of hospital rules, as well as provisions of the Arizona Administrative Code and the Arizona Constitution. Robert Washington, (my last assigned ASH social worker) made clear statements to this same effect at the very end of my time at ASH, when I lawfully requested copies of my personal medical records just before I was scheduled to discharge on February 21, 2012; at that time, I filled out and submitted a standard ASH/ADHS form request for these records, but Washington later advised me (on the day before my actual discharge) that "They refused to do so….('Who? I asked.') Administration, that's who. They told me that they were not going to provide you with any of your records at this time." It was an astoundingly clear expression of ASH administrations' willingness to look me in the eye and say: "You and your claim of fundamental rights to dignity and self determination mean nothing to us. We don't care, and there is nothing you can do about it." I experienced that same basic theme of utter disrespect and disregard for my fundamental human rights as a patient and person at all levels of interaction with ASH staff for over 13 full months of time. I attest to this fact, and I look forward to stating my ongoing concerns about these people when the time comes in a formally convened court of law. 
     Dr. Steven Dingle, meanwhile, has been promoted within the ADHS system of behavioral health care (a very disturbing thought, in my opinion, and a fact that I intend to address as my advocacy in defense of patient rights in AZ evolves); and my one time social worker, Megan Mischer, left ASH at just about that time that I filed a formal report with The AZ Board of Behavioral Health Examiners about her engagement in criminal abuse of my rights as a patient, person, and consumer in the state of Arizona. I have always suspected that Mischer heard me when I told in her in no uncertain terms: "You have been doing this for some time, and you know as well as I do that you are tending to my discharge affairs in direct violation of law and policy". I went so far in those conversations to show her the specific statutory laws that applied to my concerns at the time, and she always deferred her unwillingness to offer me comprehensive response about these matters to "her bosses." She saw it, I feel, that the one's behind the criminal misconduct at ASH were far behind their due consequences, so she split.  
     That is the way it goes at The Arizona State Hospital: 

Substandard mental-medical health care and blatant disregard for well established law and policy specific to patient rights, all as a matter of standard practice at all levels of staff.  

IN CLOSING: You can be sure that I'll be in touch with Debra Rinaudo of The Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners as soon as I possibly can. But where does this end? Are the realities of criminal conduct and substandard mental-medical care and practice at The Arizona State Hospital so deeply embedded in the state system that nothing short of absolute revolution in terms of reform in the behavioral health care network will suffice as a matter of cleaning things up? ADHS' Director Will Humble has made it clear to me that he is not going to respond to these concerns. Clearly, federal oversight and intervention is necessary, and my ongoing work in this context has increasingly led me into conversations with federal agency workers who are, in effect, bound to take action once they have to. But, I am still falling short in certain terms of what it will take to get the Fed fully on board with my cause, but that is ok. The time will come, and anyone familiar with federal agencies knows that everything takes an inordinate amount of time. 

     That said, I will just have to keep it up. The rat bastards at ASH and in the administrative offices of the department of health, and so on, seemingly anoint themselves with the stink of corruption and criminality at every turn in the road; this is exemplified quite clearly by these ever emerging news reports in relation to just about every high ranking official in the Arizona state government. So we will just allow them- the ranking officials most responsible for seeing to the deepest needs of Arizona's citizens- continue to self implode as a matter of their fundamental ineptitude and related incompetence; and I will be there to expedite the process as best I can, as it all goes down. 

     Professor Joseph "Smokin' Joe" Livermore (UA Law) once told me: "Criminals tend to be pretty stupid as a rule. That's why they can't follow the rules." And as I continue to embark on seeking humane reform in relation to my defense of the rights of the patients at The Arizona State Hospital, running as I do into roadblocks at every juncture which seemingly highlight the unwillingness of affiliated state employees to simply do their jobs, I am increasingly reminded of Prof. Livermore's words in this context. Consistent with the presence of immoral and unethical mental-medical care at ASH, I recognize an insidious lack of common sensibility in the practices of Joel "the mortician" Rudd (of the Arizona Attorney Generals' office), as well as in the characteristics of ASH supervisor Cory"crazycorycorner" Nelson (illustrated no more clearly than by the home page of his personal website), and Arizona Department of Health Services Will Humble (as exemplified by his blatant unwillingness to openly communicate with the public- people like me, his actual clientele). It is freakishly unrepresentative of what I know to be the well established standards of modern American society and culture, an aberration of decent and humane behavior that may, indeed, meet the definition of socially sanctioned psychopathy: People in power doing whatever they have to preserve their selfish and socially immoral ways, and to Hell with the impacts of this behavior on the one's relying on their authority, etc. Please come to the aid of ASH' seriously mentally ill patients today. The administrators and clinicians at ASH operate at a level of graphical substandard mental health care, and they are getting away with it lock-stock-and barrel. Patient abuse is inhumane, cruel, and unacceptable in every sense of the word.

paoloreed@gmail.com

Only In Arizona/Faces Of Deceit #TWO: Wherein, the corruption in the offices of Arizona's highest ranking officials glaringly characterizes the sort(s) of people that I am dealing with as I fight patient abuse at the state's sole long term public mental health facility, The Arizona State Hospital. Dirt, deceit, greed, power, ego, and patent discrimination. Bottom line, and across all lines, from cultural identity to disability, Arizona is an administratively abusive and racist state.   

                                           Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne. 

He is Joel "the mortician" Rudd's boss.

He looks like a drunken Swede.

     One very disturbing feature of my experiences at The Arizona State Hospital that I have tried to bring attention to, is the fact that ASH treats seriously mentally ill Caucasians at about 4-5 times the rate of seriously mentally ill African Americans, which is an absolute u-turn in comparison to these numbers in our state prisons, where African Americans outnumber whites by close to 12 to 1. Not that I knew every other patient at ASH, I can assuredly count on two hands the African American men and women who I knew as peers while I was at ASH, this in a patient community numbering well above 125. This is of critical  concern to me because the vast majority of patients at ASH arrive there following legal proceedings in the state courts, where seriously mentally ill adults of all/any race(s) very often wind up following conflicts with police and the public, after which they come to be either sentenced to a penal facility or referred to a psychiatric hospital. ASH is the only long term public psychiatric hospital in the state. 

     The Arizona State Hospital in Phoenix is the state's one and only long term public mental health facility. Why and how it could possibly be that white men and women in Arizona seemingly suffer from serious mental illness at 4-5 times the rate that African Americans do is beyond me, particularly given that it is defiance of extensive evidence to the effect that serious mental illness does not, in fact, unevenly occur across racial or cultural lines. Herein one can observe clear racial discrimination that occurs in direct relation to both the public behavioral health care system and the legal system in Arizona, which work together veery closely in determining the most appropriate manner in which to manage the state's mentally ill citizens when they have the misfortune of experiencing conflict with the police or public. The implications are severe, knowing as I do that prison populations across the board reflect a markedly high number of mentally ill persons; and in Arizona, I feel it is safe to assume that there is a grossly disproportionate number of seriously mentally ill African Americans in our state prisons, while at ASH, a grossly disproportionate number of mentally ill white men (like Governor Jan Brewer's son?) women are granted treatment at The Arizona State Hospital versus incarceration in the prison system. This is grossly unjustified, and represents nothing short of a broken state system of public administration.   

     I actually submitted a direct comment/inquiry to Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble's official on-line blog site about this specific issue, this in response to an article he published in early July, 2012 (see azadhs.gov: "Director's Blog" July 27, 2012) that discussed observable social/cultural-racial disparities throughout the whole of our nation. In his article, Humble declared a central intent to fairly and comprehensively address any observable disparities in the flow of health care in Arizona, and then went on to further declare the related objective of this intent, as follows: "So that…. Arizona's public health team can better address health equity and improve health status for vulnerable populations in Arizona."     
     As soon as I read this article, I submitted my direct inquiry and comments to Humble's blog about the graphic cultural-racial disparity in mental health services that I witnessed while hospitalized at ASH, but as I have already discussed at length in prior articles, the director of the state's health care system refuses to so much as acknowledge my testimony and expressed concern about the substandard conditions at ASH, much less to formally respond to these inquiries in public (through his blog site).

        Arizona has earned itself the moniker of "the most racist state in the nation" for any number of clearly evident reasons. And while I am not seeking to further this particular line of criticism about the "management" practices of Arizona's elected officials (i.e. Governor Jan Brewer, or Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, it's freakishly apparent to me that the corruption at ASH and throughout the network of administrators who have been entrusted with overseeing the state of Arizona's public service system occurs in very disparate terms, at the direct expense of Arizona's most at risk populations.  

     That said, here are just a couple more fresh out of the kettle news reports about how things go Arizona in this day in age, 2012, outlandishly disturbing events and revelations to totally in keeping with my sentiment: 

ONLY IN ARIZONA. 

Arizona private prison contract awarded

to Tennessee firm.

by Craig Harris - Aug. 31, 2012 10:12 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

     The state Department of Corrections on Friday evening awarded a multimillion-dollar private-prison contract to Corrections Corporation of America, which has employed lobbyists close to Gov Jan. Brewer in its effort to win the bid.The firm is politically connected to Brewer, who has pushed for the prison expansion. Until mid-July, CCA employed Chuck Coughlin, an influential lobbyist who is a close friend and an adviser to Brewer. And, state lobbying records show CCA also employs Policy Development Group, a lobbying firm that includes Paul Senseman, Brewer's former spokesman.

      "If you place two of your lobbyists at the right and left hand of the governor of the state and she has the final say and oversight of the Department of Corrections, I would say that's a pretty smart business strategy," said Caroline Isaacs of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group and opponent of Arizona's private-prison expansion.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/08/31/20120831arizona-private-prison-contract-awarded-firm.html#ixzz25EbpNnjV

Records: AG official did private work on state time

by Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Bob Ortega - Aug. 31, 2012 11:45 PMThe Republic | azcentral.com

Tom Horne's office releases hundreds of pages of documents at Republic's request

       A political employee (Kathleen Winn) who is under investigation in connection with improper campaign activities was allowed to perform private real-estate work on government time by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, records obtained by The Arizona Republic show. The FBI and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office are investigating whether Winn, who ran an independent campaign-expenditure committee on Horne's behalf before he hired her as his director of community outreach, improperly colluded with Horne when he was running for attorney general in 2010…. The records (compiled by the AZ Republic in preparing this story) included internal investigations performed by Horne's own state investigator, Margaret "Meg" Hinchey, who filed a $10 million claim in June accusing Horne of retaliating against her after she went to the FBI with allegations of illegal activity involving Horne and Winn. Hinchey claimed she stumbled upon information about Horne's alleged involvement with an independent expenditure committee chaired by Winn while investigating another matter. Hinchey and another Attorney General's Office employee have alleged that Horne illegally collaborated with Winn on an independent expenditure to help elect Horne in 2010.

     The FBI is collaborating with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office on that investigation, in which subpoenas have been issued, according to Republic sources. Neither law-enforcement agency has confirmed the existence of the probe.

Kathleen Winn, the person at the center of a political scandal swirling around the Arizona Attorney General's Office, was performing private real estate work on government time and was believed by coworkers to be the source of information leaked to the media about another employee, records show.

  

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2012/08/31/20120831AG-Horne-staffer-private-work-public-time.html#ixzz25EeKiSMm

IN CLOSING: I firmly believe that the shit is going to hit the fan in Arizona at some time in the near future, specific to what one observer has characterized as "the most scandalous period of history ever, in a state that is well known for its political scandals…." At the bottom of the pond, where the spotlight never shines, the patients at The Arizona State Hospital bear the burden of suffering the worst impacts of these matters, for they (we) are arguably the most marginalized population in the country, and when you take the substandard medical-mental health care practices in a state hospital like ASH into account, there is seemingly little hope in terms of meaningful reform. But I see the road by which to bring this matter to light, because ASH is merely and extension of the state government itself, and when the shit does hit the fan, I will be right there with my extensively documented evidence and heartfelt testimony about the grossly mismanaged affairs at ASH, and the ones responsible for the patterns of patient abuse at ASH will be held accountable. Each and every one of them, if I have my way. The patients at ASH deserve as much, and then some.   

Only in Arizona, indeed. Where in the hell do they (the powers that be) find these people. Is there some sort of factory just south of the border with Mexico, where Beelzebub himself cranks out disfigured forms of human nature and being, pressing them into molds and coloring them all in shades of egg shell and bloodied cream? Please visit my April 30, 2012 "Resource Ideas" article, and come to the aid of Arizona's most vulnerable population. The abuse of seriously mentally ill patients is sickening to the conscience, but at ASH, it is standard practice. The administrators and clinicians at ASH are operating at a level of substandard medical-mental heath care and practice,a nd they are getting away with it. It has to stop. Today. 

paoloreed@gmail.com

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, and I would run back and forth along its entire length, with occasional forays into the terrascaped 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.     

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