I have spent the last three days working on two cases for the U.S. Embassy. Maybe if I document some of the problems involved, it will cause at least one more person to be willing to register with the U.S. Embassy in Panama City, and to set up a personal buddy contact and maybe write a will.

I received a call on Wednesday from the Embassy asking if I could check on a U.S. Citizen that was in the Regional Hospital. The hospital social worker had called the Embassy requesting help because the doctors were saying he was fine and they needed him to leave because the hospital needed the space.

When I saw him he didn’t look well enough to care for himself if he returned to his apartment. I went back yesterday and the doctors again said he was perfectly fine and ready to leave.

I went to meet with the hospital social worker for this case. When I was sitting in the office of the hospital social worker, I called the Embassy so they could talk to her while I was there. She told the Embassy that they needed to release the patient to free up space.

Each time the hospital had wanted him to go, the patient had not wanted to go because he didn’t feel well. The Embassy asked what the hospital’s practice was in cases when the doctors said the patient was fine and the patient felt he needed more care. Continue reading →