Arizona Health Director: Moving Hacienda HealthCare Patients Puts Them At Great Risk

Published: Monday, February 11, 2019 - 12:25pm
Updated: Monday, February 11, 2019 - 1:36pm
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Hacienda HealthCare in south Phoenix.

Hacienda HealthCare announced late last week that it would be closing the doors of its intermediate care facility in Phoenix months after news broke that a woman with severe disabilities was raped there and gave birth to a baby boy.

The announcement of this closure angered disability advocates and lawmakers alike. Gov. Doug Ducey said it was another failure for these patients.

“We’ve put a 24-hour monitor inside Hacienda to make sure the patients are cared for and they are comfortable and now we’re working on the long-time solution for these people so their lives aren’t disrupted,” said Ducey.

Then, on Friday night, Hacienda issued a statement saying the facility will — in fact — stay open, and that it agreed to accept voluntary regulation by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

For more on this, The Show was joined by Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

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