Date: Tuesday 17 February 21:14:20 1771384460

From: Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx
P.O. Box XXXX
Wynne AR XXXXX

To: Craighead County Sheriff’s Office
Arkansas State Police - Criminal Investigations
Sonia F. Hagood - Prosecuting Attorney 2nd Judicial District
Governor of Arkansas
Attorney General of Arkansas
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
KAIT Jonesboro
Jonesboro Sun
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Times
The Commercial Appeal
WREG-TV Memphis
WMC-TV Memphis
Fox 13 Memphis
KATV Litttle Rock
KARK Little Rock
KTHV Little Rock
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Dallas Morning News
The Nation
USA Today

As this letter is addressed to various types of entities (news, government, law enforcement) depending on which you represent you may not find some parts of it of interest.

I contacted the Craighead County Sheriff's Office some time ago to inquire about a contact in the office of the Arkansas Attorney General. They were unable to provide assistance (thanks for trying Sgt. Smyth) but in any case I seem be at a dead end. I have written them several times about some serious issues in the defunct Arkansas Continued Care Hospital (ACCH) in Jonesboro and it seems that the staff of both the governor and attorney general either did not understand the matter or consider it important.

I was inside ACCH five years ago and witnessed conduct by the staff - including the chief physician - that was an order of magnitude beyond medical malpractice - it was the worst kind of negligence and misconduct and resulted in numerous patient deaths and unquestionably constitutes criminal recklessness. Briefly (the analysis is rather lengthy), to quote from my letter to the Attorney General:

Q: This was a physical (no mental health patients) rehabilitation and recovery facility and did not receive critically ill patients. It did not operate an emergency room and did not have an intensive care section and did not perform surgery or any function other than monitoring and care of stabilized patients. If the condition of a patient deteriorated that patient should have been transferred to one of the general hospitals. The death rate during the seven years of operation was over twenty per year. Of the documented deaths almost half were under the age of seventy and a large number were under sixty with some under forty. Is a criminal investigation warranted?

. . . .

Bottom line: A >20-fold elevation in mortality, concentrated in non-elderly, stabilized patients, in a facility explicitly designed to prevent deterioration, cannot be attributed to chance or comorbidity without forensic scrutiny. Criminal neglect, falsification of records, or financial fraud (e.g., retaining dying patients for reimbursement) are plausible hypotheses that only an investigation can rule out. Recommendation: Refer immediately to the state health department, attorney general, and local prosecutor for a joint regulatory/criminal probe.
That is the conclusion of a scientific analysis of the situation at ACCH and although the facility is now defunct (I suggest that the present owner and the conditions of the sale should be investigated) I can tell you and you can easily verify that it is based on an accurate description of the facility - I and others witnessed the operation on a daily basis and can assure you that it is. I have tried for five years to draw attention to this matter and have samples of hospital records (legally obtained) and the identities of key personnel for the past five years. Most live in the area and are employed at other health care facilities but many have altered their public resumes to remove references to their employment at ACCH. I can also provide details the treatment that likely caused some of the deaths and of patient abuse by hospital personnel and generally abysmal conditions that were deleterious to the recovery of patients.

I am aware of the Arkansas state medical board and have reported the doctor but the only authority the board has is disciplining doctors and has no law enforcement function - the fact that the board failed to act is irrelevant. For what good I expect it to do I will be sending this letter to the board and the governor and Attorney General.

As ACCH was managed by a company in Texas if other matters such as insurance/Medicare/Medicaid fraud or a federal case of patient abuse are involved it could be a federal matter so I am sending a copy to the federal authorities.

If you wish to communicate by email you can contact me at sklawrence@myndcryme.com or visit the website for more information.



Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxxxx