Life in a hospital

From Dean Esmay comes this link to a post at Random Fate about a California woman who entered the hospital a year ago and is still there -- she refuses to leave.

Something to think about... ...as the Baby Boomers age:

Woman refuses to leave the hospital 82-year-old was discharged a year ago, officials say

More than a year after Sarah Nome was deemed healthy and given her discharge papers, the 82-year-old woman stubbornly refuses to leave her hospital bed.

And of course, there is the back-story:

"The thing is, I have no medical problem. I've been here more than a year, never had any medication, never had any treatment, never had a fever, have a perfect heart, blood pressure is like a teenager," Nome said in a telephone interview from the hospital north of San Francisco. "It isn't that I'm not ready to go. I just have nowhere to go." ... Nome's troubles began, her daughter Jane Sands says, in 2002 when she broke both her legs while living alone. After several operations, Nome could no longer care for herself and was admitted to the first of several nursing homes. The most recent one, Nome claims, sent her to the hospital against her will. Hospital officials say she was admitted for a weeklong psychiatric evaluation, was deemed to be in good mental health, was then ordered released. But because she is suing the nursing homes where she lived before she was hospitalized, Nome and her daughter claim she has no choice but to stay put. Nome is suing the last home she lived in, Greenbrae Care Center, for sending her to the hospital.

One of the comments posted on Dean Esmay's board said that there might be cause to set up some care facilities in countries like Costa Rica or Mexico where the dollar goes a lot further. That does not sound like a bad idea. Dr. Arthur C. Clarke retired to Sri Lanka. With the internet, you are not removed from civilization as you would have been twenty years ago. Rob at Gut Rumbles reports that the Costa Rican people are friendly. Very very friendly...