Anonymous Nursing Home Complaint Leads to Resignation of State Director in Arizona
By nursing-home-lawyer | March 29, 2007
The New York Times reports that “the director of the Arizona Department of Veterans Services resigned Tuesday, days after the public disclosure of health and safety violations at a nursing home for veterans”. This is a powerful example of what complaints to LTC ombudsmen and other state health officials can do to improve conditions and get results for nursing home residents.
The list of violations was in a report dated March 16 and released last week by state health investigators who, acting on an anonymous complaint, examined the Arizona State Veteran Home in central Phoenix over an eight-day period last month. The report was obtained last week by The Arizona Republic and has been widely publicized around the state.
The home, which has 200 beds serving primarily veterans of World War II and the Korean War, was fined $10,000 by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a result of the report.
Gov. Janet Napolitano relieved the director of the department, Patrick Chorpenning, of his duties associated with the home on Monday, and he resigned on Tuesday, saying that “in light of what has taken place in the press, I feel it is in your best interest that I resign.â€
“I am certain that after the investigation into the Arizona State Veteran Home is complete,†he added in a two-paragraph letter to the governor, “there will be a complete exoneration of the charges.â€
Mr. Chorpenning, a former marine who was seriously wounded in Vietnam, had also been criticized in the report for hiring his wife and cousin at the home, findings that Ms. Napolitano referred to the state attorney general for further inquiry.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Napolitano, Jeanine Lecuyer, declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the resignation.
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Topics: Arizona Nursing Home Director |
