Director of Veterans Services Resigns

Mar 27, 09:37 PM

Current Headlines: By Daniel Scarpinato, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Mar. 27--PHOENIX -- The director of the state Department of Veterans Services has resigned following revelations that the Arizona State Veterans Home was fined $10,000 for patient-neglect.

On Monday, Gov. Janet Napolitano removed Patrick Chorpenning from his duties overseeing the home, but stopped short of firing him. Tuesday morning she announced his resignation.

"I regret the circumstances that led to Pat Chorpenning's resignation, but I have accepted his letter and his decision to leave the agency," Napolitano said in a statement. "Pat Chorpenning has a long history of service to his country and to this state, and for that, I thank him."

The Phoenix hospital is the only veteran home in the state, serving patients from Southern Arizona. During an unannounced routine inspection in February by the Arizona Department of Health Services, inspectors found multiple violations, including: patients left unsupervised while smoking,

burning holes in their clothes; a patient covered in urine who had to drag herself down a hallway because no one would answer her call button; and a patient left in soiled bedclothes for nearly an hour.

There are also questions about nepotism in department hiring.

Chorpenning, a Vietnam veteran, was appointed by former Gov. Jane Dee Hull in 1999.

A timeline for selection of a new director has not yet been set, but the governor's office said in a statement that an interim Acting Director will be named quickly.

Overseeing a review of the care home is Leonard Kirschner, former director of the state's health care system.

Contact reporter Daniel Scarpinato at 307-4339 or dscarpinato@azstarnet.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

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