State investigating patient-dumping case
The Arizona Department of Health Services, along with the state medical and nursing boards, have opened investigations into what may have gone wrong in a hospital “patient dumping” case revealed by
Martin, a mentally impaired man who had been missing for months, was found at a bus stop with an amputated foot, reported in January. Martin, whose last name is withholding because he is a ward of the county, was found by a good Samaritan named Leigh Bowie who took him to a hospital and advocated for his needs. The wound required a second amputation, this time to the knee.
The Arizona Department of Health Services confirmed an investigation is underway.
The medical board sent an “initial notice letter” to stating that it would “review the allegations” raised in the story. The board later assigned the case to an investigator.
The nursing board will “review the information” in the article and “make a determination ... as to whether there appears to be a Nurse Practice Act violation. We have already begun the process of seeking additional information,” the executive director said in an email.
The health services department licenses medical facilities, while the medical board licenses physicians and the nursing board licenses nurses. All three government entities can investigate complaints and mete out punishment for violations of state health laws, such as revoking licenses, if problems are found. Among the potential violations discovered:
❚ South Mountain Care Home, the facility where Martin was supposed to live, is unlicensed. If it is operating as an assisted-living home, that’s a problem. Another question: Would it pass a health and safety inspection under an assisted-living license? Bowie and a reporter noticed buildings that appeared rundown and unclean on a visit last year. The kitchen has been cited by the county health department.
❚ Maricopa Medical Center, Camelback Post-Acute Care and Rehabilitation, Abrazo Central and Haven Health did not notify Martin’s legal guardian that they were caring for him. The Maricopa County Public Fiduciary, which is responsible for Martin due to his mental impairment, said the medical centers had a duty to inform the government agency when Martin was admitted.
❚ Abrazo Central and Camelback Post-Acute Care and Rehabilitation may have improperly discharged Martin. The Maricopa County Public Fiduciary said it did not know where Martin was discharged in two instances after those facilities cared for him. He was found on the street shortly after.
❚ Physicians, nurses and other staffers may have endangered Martin’s safety or violated health laws or regulations.
Maricopa Medical Center, Camelback Post-Acute Care and Rehabilitation and Abrazo Central have told
they follow all laws and regulations.
Martin’s story
Martin was once a plumber with a wife and two children who lived in a nice Scottsdale home, according to interviews and records.
But at some point, he lost his job, got divorced and was charged with extreme DUI.
Alcohol damaged Martin’s brain so badly that by 2003 he had permanent short-term memory loss and was unable to manage his own finances, health care and other important decisions, court records show.
Martin’s father and brother stepped in. But after they could no longer care for him, the Maricopa County Public Fiduciary took responsibility for his well-being.
The county guardian placed him at care homes that allowed him to wander the streets, despite his memory problems, according to court records and interviews.
For four months last year, Martin’s county guardian didn’t know where he was. The South Mountain Care Home manager mused that Martin was likely panhandling and would be back soon, according to records and interviews.
While he was missing, Martin was struck by a car miles from his care home and had to have his foot amputated at Maricopa Medical Center, according to the public fiduciary.
The county hospital discharged Martin to Camelback Post-Acute and Rehabilitation for recovery.
More than a month later, the skilled nursing facility discharged Martin to an unknown location, the fiduciary said.
Martin then showed up at Abrazo Central hospital complaining of pain in his leg. Emergency-room staffers apparently gave him a prescription for antibiotics and discharged him location.
On Oct. 4, Bowie was walking to yoga class when she saw Martin draped across a bus stop across the street from Abrazo Central. She checked to see he was breathing, bought him snacks and orange juice and then wheeled him, with his permission, to the hospital.
As Bowie advocated for Martin’s needs, she said doctors and staffers brushed her off and ultimately called police and kicked her out of the hospital.
Only after Bowie filed in court to take emergency guardianship of Martin did the Maricopa County Public Fiduciary learn where he was.
Court Commissioner Aryeh Schwartz denied Bowie’s request to care for Martin, even as the fiduciary admitted it had lost track of him a second time.
When the fiduciary called Abrazo Central to locate Martin, the hospital told the agency he was not a patient, sending the county on a weeks-long manhunt to find him, according to interviews.
County officials finally discovered Martin recovering at a nursing facility called Haven Health.
The Maricopa County Public Fiduciary told that Martin will now live in a more restrictive assistedliving facility and be fitted with a prosthetic leg. to an unknown