Affiliate: Planned Parenthood Arizona.
Locations: 7. Covered here: 7.
Patients who feel a need to file a complaint:
Arizona Licensing Services Online Complaint Forms
For a pdf report on the state that can be posted online, sent by email attachment, or printed in whole or with specific pages:
Arizona State Report Online PDF
Entire State
Article in The New York Times
Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in Crisis
by Katie Benner, February 15, 2025
As for the staff, morale problems have persisted. In Arizona, a planning report in 2023 found that the affiliate was suffering from “prior operational mismanagement, a fragile financial state, and staff recruitment retention and morale issues.” The report cited “chronic underinvestment and negligence” among problems that had led to a “poor patient experience.” . . .
Several clinic employees there quit, citing a work culture they called “chaotic” and “toxic” and low wages, according to a separate 2023 report by an outside consulting firm. The report said that clinic staff members made about 20 percent less than other health care workers in the region.
“Staff have been explicitly told to get part-time work in order to cover their basic needs,” the report said. It said that staff members worked after hours without clocking in “because the work must get done.”
Article in The New York Times
Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in Crisis
by Katie Benner, February 15, 2025
But in many clinics, they also draw blood and take vital signs. Medical assistants in Ohio, Minnesota, Arizona, California, New York, Texas, Indiana and Illinois said they practiced blood draws and I.V. placements for an hour or so on a fake arm and then on a colleague before performing the procedures in clinics. But they said they sometimes ran into problems, and some said they did not know what to do when they arose. Mr. Hamblin, the medical assistant in Arizona, said that he was often asked to draw blood after other assistants had failed.
Flagstaff
| The Better Business Bureau webpage lists this center under “did not disclose” and states: “This charitable organization either has not responded to written BBB requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.” |
Health Department Documents:
Highlights:
Clinic Conditions
The facility failed to properly sterilize instruments and textiles that “may come in contact with a patients’ blood and internal tissue.” Using unsterilized, dirty instruments on multiple women has the potential to spread infection.
AZ Flagstaff Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 2. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 3. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 4. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 5. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 6. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 7. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Flagstaff Google 8. Accessed 02.13.22.
AZ Flagstaff Google 9. Accessed 02.13.22.
AZ Flagstaff Google 10. Accessed 02.13.22.
AZ Flagstaff Yelp 1
AZ Flagstaff Yelp 2
AZ Flagstaff Yelp 3
AZ Flagstaff Yelp 4
AZ Flagstaff Yelp 5
AZ Flagstaff Yelp 6
Glendale
The Better Business Bureau webpage lists this center under “did not disclose” and states: “This charitable organization either has not responded to written BBB requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.”
Health Department Documents:
Highlights:
Clinic Conditions
The facility used expired medications on patients. Some were two years past their expiration dates.
Staff failed to perform required spore tests on the autoclaves (machines used to sterilize instruments). This could lead to “a potential risk of cross contamination and infection to their patients” according to the report.
Staff failed to properly maintain, clean, and sterilize the autoclaves as per the manufacturer’s instructions. There was no documentation that the autoclaves were cleaned on a weekly or even monthly basis.
When blood dripped from a used speculum onto the floor, staff was observed wiping it up with paper towels and cleaning spray rather than using bleach and properly disinfecting the floor.
Hazardous chemicals weren’t properly labeled.
Staff didn’t properly clean and disinfect post-procedure specimen bottles.
Staff failed to clean and sanitize examination tables between patients.
According to the report, these omissions, “have the potential for non-sterile instruments or non-disinfected supplies to be utilized on patients.”
There was no designated infection control person assigned to the infection control position, no one whose job is specifically to ensure that cleanliness and proper sterilization practices were followed.
There were multiple tears and punctures in the upholstered material of an examination table, exposing stuffing. This presents an infection risk as it makes the surface difficult or impossible to properly disinfect.
Staff
Three staff members had not received yearly TB tests, and the test of another was improperly conducted, rendering it invalid.
Two doctors weren’t certified in CPR. There was no documentation of present or past certification.
Privacy
A HIPAA (privacy) violation that occurred at the clinic wasn’t documented.
Incidents
A patient had an adverse reaction to sedation administered before a procedure. She suffered severely low blood pressure. This wasn’t reported to the medical director or recorded in the procedure notes. The RN who administered the sedation wasn’t licensed to do so. When asked to show what protocols were in place for treating patients suffering severe hypotension (dangerously low blood pressure) the clinic was unable to provide any. The facility also had no guidelines for what blood pressure measurements indicated severe hypotension. According to the report, the center manager “verified, during an interview conducted on 2/13/15, that there are no established blood pressure parameters for severe hypotension, standing orders, and/or facility policy that identifies the care and treatment of a patient experiencing severe hypotension after adversely reacting to a medication provided for conscious sedation.”
Other
Fire and evacuation drills weren’t conducted every six months, as required.
Waters
AZ Glendale Waters 2017 Malpractice Complaint
Excerpt:
11. During the procedure, Defendant’s employee was unable to control Ms. Waters’ vaginal bleeding, causing significant blood loss, dizziness and lightheadedness.
12. Defendant’s employee then . . . called an ambulance to transport Ms. Waters to the emergency room with instructions that she needed a blood transfusion due to the massive vaginal bleed . . .
15. As a result of the procedure . . . Ms. Waters suffered from, among other things, a bowel obstruction, fever, anemia due to blood loss, uterine bleeding and hemorrhagic shock.
16. Since the procedure, Ms. Waters has experienced serious pain and suffering throughout her body but especially in her abdomen area . . .
18. Ms. Waters has exhausted most of her income paying for medical care to treat the numerous health issues caused by Defendant’s actions . . .
2019 Spreadsheet – BLS means Basic Life Support, and ALS means Advanced Life Support.
July 6, 2014
August 20, 2014
September 4, 2014
December 14, 2014
January 31, 2015
April 3, 2015
June 14, 2015
October 27, 2016
December 1, 2016
June 14, 2017
July 25, 2017
June 8, 2018
July 29, 2018
March 14, 2019
April 19, 2019
Rodriguez
This could also be listed under health violations, but isn’t duplicated above.
Court Document:
Article from Legal Reader:
Planned Parenthood Whistleblower Awarded $3M, Ending Wrongful Terminationi Case
by Brianna Smith, August 23, 2019
According to the suit, a former Planned Parenthood director, Mayra Rodriguez, sued the organization for wrongful termination in 2017 after 17 years of service. Towards the end of her career, she began reporting that the “organization was endangering the health and safety of the women visiting their facility.” Soon after, she was fired.
Though Rodriguez’s suit did not list specific damages she hoped to win, a two-week trial and a three-hour deliberation resulted in an Arizona jury siding with her. In the end, the jury unanimously awarded her $3 million for acting as a whistleblower . . .
What were the accusations included in the suit, though? What were the issues Rodriguez reported that led to her wrongful termination? For starters, the lawsuit included several “accusations against Planned Parenthood that demonstrated its lack of medical care, concern for patients, and unethical practices.” Her suit added that “Planned Parenthood fired her after she observed its many violations of state law and ethics guidelines, and after it fabricated a bunk claim that she had narcotics in her desk.”
Additionally, “a couple of months before her termination, Rodriguez made several complaints against doctors and questioned business practices,” according to the suit. On top of that, she began to notice a pattern of a “Planned Parenthood official performing abortions on patients who then experienced significant complications, including bleeding and cramps.” The suit further stated, “Ms. Rodriguez was concerned about the substantial health, welfare, and safety risks to these patients, as well as the substantial risk to the health, safety, and welfare of the inevitable future of PPA patients.”
As if those claims weren’t enough, the suit also alleged that a handful of medical assistants often “complained about working with the same doctor during abortions and that the doctor had been requiring the assistants to sign an affidavit stating the abortion procedure was performed properly before they even did the procedure.” The suit stated:
“The medical assistants believed the attestations were premature, wrong, and illegal because the abortion surgery had not yet been performed and they were concerned about the quality and thoroughness of the procedures.”
On one occasion, a medical assistant even had to track down the doctor “after an ultrasound revealed the doctor had placed an IUD in a patient before an abortion was fully completed.” On another occasion, one of the facility’s managers allegedly “did not report that a minor with an adult partner was seeking an abortion, a blatant violation of state law meant to protect potential victims of statutory rape.”
Eventually, Rodriguez voiced her concerns to her supervisor, even though she did not feel comfortable doing so because her supervisor and doctor in question were friends.
Soon after the jury’s decision, Tim Casey, Rodriguez’s attorney, met with reporters and said “the jury found Rodriguez was doing her job by reporting her concerns . . . It vindicated what she found and it ought to help our community be safer.”
AZ Glendale Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Glendale Google 2. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Glendale Google 3. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Glendale Google 9. Accessed 02.13.22.
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AZ Glendale Yelp 1
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AZ Glendale Yelp 6
Maricopa County
Sanderson
Exact center not specified in the lawsuit.
AZ Maricopa County Sanderson 2013 Malpractice Complaint
- The annual examination Defendant . . . performed on February 6, 2008 included a physical examination that should have identified the presence of any uterine masses or fibroids then present and presenting a risk to the health and/or reproductive capability of Plaintiff . . .
- Defendant . . . did not report to Plaintiff . . . that she had detected the presence of any uterine masses or fibroids . . .
- The annual examination Defendant . . . performed on March 5, 2009 included a physical examination that should have identified the presence of any uterine masses or fibroids . . .
- Defendant . . . did not report to Plaintiff . . . that she had detected the presence of any uterine masses or fibroids . . .
- The annual examination Defendant . . . performed on May 25, 2010 included a physical examination that should have identified the presence of any uterine masses or fibroids . . .
- The person or persons who performed the annual examination . . . did not report to Plaintiff . . . that she had detected the presence of any uterine masses or fibroids . . .’’
- On August 2, 2011 Plaintiff . . . was scheduled . . . to undergo an ultrasound examination to assess for the presence of fibroids, ovarian cysts or multi-gestation.
- On August 3, 2011, Plaintiff Sanderson was informed about the results of the ultrasound and learned for the first time about the presence of multiple large fibroids throughout the uterus.
- On October 5, 2011 Plaintiff underwent hysteroscopic myomectomy for surgical removal of a submucosal fibroid and an endometrial mass , . .
- . . . Plaintiff . . . was told to avoid future labor and plan cesarean section for future birth delivery to minimize the risk of uterine rupture . . .
- As a direct and proximate result of the negligent acts and omissions of Defendant . . . Plaintiff . . . experienced a miscarriage she may not have experienced with earlier notice of the presence of fibroids and growths and medical care appropriate to address the presence of the fibroids and growths that then existed.
Mesa
The Better Business Bureau webpage lists this center under “did not disclose” and states: “This charitable organization either has not responded to written BBB requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.”
AZ Mesa Glassdoor 1
AZ Mesa Glassdoor 2
AZ Mesa Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Mesa Google 3. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Mesa Google 11. Accessed April 24, 2021.
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AZ Mesa Google 13. Accessed 02.13.22.
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Phoenix (entire city)
See also Employee Rights under the city of Glendale above; Rodriguez worked in Phoenix as well.
Doe / Stevens
Court Document:
AZ Phoenix Doe / Stevens Complaint
Article from the Arizona Daily Sun:
Planned Parenthood found negligent in reporting girl’s abortion
Excerpt:
A judge found Planned Parenthood negligent for failing to report to Child Protective Services an abortion performed on a 13-year-old girl in foster care . . .
The girl’s case dates back to 1998, when the teen went for an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic accompanied by her 23-year-old foster brother, with whom she was having a sexual relationship.
Lawsuits filed on behalf of the teen contend the Glendale girl was subjected to continued molestation and sexual exploitation because the abortion provider and others didn’t notify police or CPS of her first abortion on Nov. 10, 1998. The girl’s attorney also argues that Planned Parenthood’s gross negligence led to her second abortion six months later.
Dixon
AZ Phoenix Dixon 2012 Malpractice Complaint
- Planned Parenthood recommended a medical abortion . . . [but] did not determine that an abortion was medical necessary . . .
- Defendant . . . performed a medical abortion on Plaintiff on or about November 6, 2020 . . .
- On or about November 17, 2010, Plaintiff returned . . . Planned Parenthood had an ultrasound performed and prepared a closing report . . . Planned Parenthood claimed that her uterus was empty. Planned Parenthood failed to properly assess Plaintiff’s condition . . .
- . . . no physician ever saw Plaintiff when she arrived at Planned Parenthood in Phoenix, Arizona for the follow-up appointment . . .
- Any information that the abortion was necessary was false, untrue and designed to coerce Plaintiff into having the medical abortion . . .
- [Plaintiff] suffered an incomplete abortion, resulting in serious complications due to the actions of Defendant Planned Parenthood. These complications resulted in her going to the hospital and suffering physical psychological, and other injuries.
Indeed.com Planned Parenthood Employee Reviews for Phoenix, AZ
AZ Phoenix Indeed 1
AZ Phoenix Indeed 2
AZ Phoenix Indeed 3
AZ Phoenix Glassdoor 1
Phoenix
Central
CThe Better Business Bureau webpage lists this center under “did not disclose” and states: “This charitable organization either has not responded to written BBB requests for information or has declined to be evaluated in relation to BBB Standards for Charity Accountability.”
AZ Phoenix Central Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Phoenix Central Google 3. Accessed 02.21.22.
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AZ Phoenix Central Google 15. Accessed 02.14.22.
AZ Phoenix Central Yelp 1
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Phoenix
Desert Sky
AZ Phoenix Desert Sky Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Phoenix Desert Sky Google 8. Accessed 02.14.22.
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AZ Phoenix Desert Sky Google 11. Accessed 02.14.22.
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AZ Phoenix Desert Sky Yelp 1
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AZ Phoenix Desert Sky Yelp 3
Tempe
Health Department Documents:
Highlights:
Clinic Conditions
Didn’t have a policy for the use, cleaning, and preventive maintenance of certain equipment used on patients, such as heating pads.
The facility appeared to be using irrigation solution (Braun 0.9% Sodium Chloride) that, by manufacturer’s standards, should’ve been discarded.
The autoclave, used to sterilize the instruments, was required to be cleaned weekly. However, the last documented cleaning was nearly three months prior to the inspection. Staff couldn’t verify the autoclave had been cleaned more recently than that.
The clinic staff failed to monitor how many cycles the autoclave was running. This was supposed to be done automatically by a printout attached to the machine. However, the paper in the printer had run out and hadn’t been replaced.
Kost
AZ Tempe Sheriff’s Report – Kost
STATE OF ARIZONA V. TYLER KOST– CRIMINAL CASE
Pinal County Superior Court, Case No. CR201400949
Article from The Arizona Republic:
Pinal Sheriff Seeks Reviews of Planned Parenthood Claim
by San Holstege, May 21, 2014
Excerpt:
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office has asked two state agencies to investigate a claim that a Planned Parenthood clinic in Tempe refused to report evidence of a suspected teen rape.
That allegation, brought by a parent of an accuser, surfaced in a sheriff’s report as part of an investigation involving an 18-year-old high-school student who officials suspect is connected to a series of reported sexual assaults on teenage girls . . .
On May 5, the Sheriff’s Office asked the Arizona Department of Health Services to look into Planned Parenthood’s handling of a 15-year-old girl who claimed Kost had raped and impregnated her. On April 17, the girl’s mother told detectives that clinicians said they “did not want the hassle” of reporting the assault, according to a police report filed in court.
| July 5, 2017
November 14, 2017 February 2, 2018 April 29, 2019 |
Indeed.com Planned Parenthood Employee Reviews for Tempe, AZ
AZ Tempe Indeed 1
AZ Tempe Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Tempe Google 2. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Tempe Google 4. Accessed 02.14.22.
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AZ Tempe Google 15. Accessed 02.14.22.
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AZ Tempe Yelp 4
Tucson
Tovar
AZ Phoenix Tovar 2015 Appeals Court Decision
Excerpt:
Incident #1: In 2003-04, M.G. and Tovar were having sexual intercourse and . . . M.G. discovered she was pregnant. She was fifteen years old. M.G.’s mother arranged for an abortion. Tovar knew about M.G.’s pregnancy and abortion . . .
Incident #7: Shortly before her nineteenth birthday, M.G. moved into her own apartment, but Tovar “would still come over . . . and sexually abuse her.”
Incident #8: Around Thanksgiving 2009, M.G. “had another abortion.” She reported “she was pretty sure the child was [Tovar’s] and that she went to the same place, Planned Parenthood, as she had for the previous abortion . . .
AZ Tucson Glassdoor 1
AZ Tucson Glassdoor 2
AZ Tucson Google 1. Accessed 04.24.21.
AZ Tucson Google 2. Accessed 04.24.21.
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AZ Tucson Yelp 1
AZ Tucson Yelp 2
Unknown Location
Article in The New York Times
Botched Care and Tired Staff: Planned Parenthood in Crisis
by Katie Benner, February 15, 2025
In one incident, a young woman who received an IUD was told “it would be rough, and just ride it out,” according to a written complaint emailed to the office of the Planned Parenthood affiliate’s president. She said she suffered months of sharp pain and bleeding, but the phone system routed her mother’s calls for help to automated phone tree messages, according to the complaint. A new doctor found that Planned Parenthood had botched the procedure. The affiliate continued to bill the family, even though they had paid their balance, according to the complaint, which cited conversations with one of the affiliate’s billing employees.