On 15 December 2020 I was transported by ambulance from my office in Paragould, Arkansas to the Arkansas Methodist Medical Center (AMMC) in Paragould. While diagnosing my condition, the staff injected a dye while attempting to attempting to perform a cardiac catheterization. The dye, known to cause kidney injury, did so but it was not immediately apparent.

On the same day I was transported to St. Bernards Regional Center (SBMRC) in Jonesboro, Arkansas. There a successful bypass surgery was performed and I was moved to the intensive care unit (ICU) for recovery. I later experienced cardiac arrest and was administered CPR for twelve minutes, and my family members (who were not present at the time) were notified by phone that I had expired.

I was successfully revived, but was diagnosed with an anoxic encephalopathy. On 15 January 2021 I was committed to the Arkansas Continued Care Hospital (ACCH) in Jonesboro, ostensibly to recover from the kidney injury and possible brain injury.

As I have no history of kidney disease or other complicating factors, my recovery from the kidney injury should have been a matter of routine care (and should have occurred at St. Bernards) until it was resolved. The diagnosis of a brain injury was (as I will demonstrate) incorrect and while the staff at St. Bernards is culpable of malpractice or dereliction it has no bearing on this matter. The fact that they either knew or should have known that they endangered my health and indeed, my life by consigning me to ACCH is not the issue.

I have no history of mental disorder of any kind, and have never been recommended for examination for such a disorder. During my military service, to determine my suitability for sensitive work, I was administered psychological tests which found no disqualifying factors. Prior to 15 December 2020 and since leaving ACCH on or about 28 March 2021 my mental condition has been as it was for more than sixty years. However, I now have neurological impairment associated with misapplication of psychotropic drugs. I cannot walk or even stand without a cane, and that is difficult and I fall often. I can not write or even print legibly, and my speech is affected to the point of it being extremely difficult to communicate with someone who is not familiar with me and my condition. I have difficulty retaining memories and must use checklists and schedules for the most routine activities such as paying bills and other business activities. I experience painful muscle spasms in my legs and feet, parkinsonism, among other documented effects of antipsychotic medications. Having never suffered from insomnia (another documented effect of antipsychotics) I now require sleep aids regularly.

When I was delivered into his care, Dr. Copeland had two obligations: 1) Administer suitable care until my injury had healed. 2) assess my condition in view of the (erroneously) reported brain injury and act accordingly.

Instead he proceeded to confine me, administer numerous destructive psychotropic drugs (several at the same time) none of which were indicated by examination by a competent physician and caused permanent neurological dysfunction. When my family members, with considerable difficulty, persuaded him to reduce the dosages to allow me to remain conscious long enough for such an assessment it became clear that I was not in any way mentally incapacitated and that any apparent mental dysfunction was solely due to the effects of the drugs.

For the last three weeks (prior to that I was incapable of coherent communication or perception due to the effect of the drugs) of the almost ten that I was confined there, I requested daily that the doctor visit me and have the restraints removed. To this day I have never seen Dr. Copeland. HE NEVER CAME TO MY ROOM WHILE I WAS IN A COGNIZANT STATE. I lay in a hospital bed, day after day, waiting for the doctor to come. He never did.

Had my family not succeeded in extricating me I have absolutely no doubt that I would before long either have been dead or in such a physically degraded condition that recovery would have been impossible. As it is I remain substantially incapacitated and unable to safely operate an automobile and am thus a burden to my family.

Dr. Copeland, entrusted with a functional and healthy human being in need of basic elementary care to heal an injury, turned that human being into a near invalid. Dr. Copeland is a menace to any patient consigned to his care.