Florida Hospital Discharge Papers: Fill & Download for Free

Yes, me, sort of. In 2000, I broke my leg snowboarding Thursday night in Utah. Travelled back home to Florida, limping. Tried to see an orthopedist on Friday but they were all busy so had to go ER where they put a splint on my leg and told me to see an orthopedist. On Sunday I had to fly to Detroit and drive to Ann Arbor (fortunately broke left leg so I could drive an automatic). I parked at the Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor to buy something I needed. There were no nearby parking spots and I was not yet proficient with crutches do I parked in a handicapped spot. I left a note and my hospital discharge papers plainly visible on the dash explaining my broken leg. Sure enough, when I return I got a ticket for $75 for parking in a handicapped spot. No problem, I say to myself. The parking police will dismiss this once I talk to someone in charge.I didn’t have time to resolve this while i was there, so I called them when I returned and bow had a temporary handicapped hang tag. The representative acknowledged that I was indeed handicapped but because I didn’t have a hang tag at that time, he would only reduce my fine from $75 to $50. I immediately planned to appeal in person and was in the process of booking a flight when my wife asked me if this was prudent.How much would you save, she asked.$25 I replied.And how much would that cost you to save $25?Airline ticket, hotel, rental car, about $600 I replied.This is why I always run ideas by her before I act.

I was born in the Army Hospital at Camp Blanding, Florida (near Gainesville). I have “Discharge Papers”, but, of course, no “Admitting Papers” (joke). The fascinating part about my Discharge Papers is that they include everyone discharged that day, including a list of German POWs(!). Why the POWs were in the hospital was not specified but the implication was that this was completely routine. And, my mother never mentioned it.This was in early 1944. But not far from Camp Blanding is Ponte Vedra Beach. In the late 1990s I was at a “science” meeting at a resort there. On one of the paths too and from the beach and the dinning hall were some signs describing how German saboteurs landed there, were captured sometime later, and then executed.German Spies Invade Ponte VedraAttendees at the meeting included many Europeans - French, German, Dutch, etc. Everyone was too polite to mention the signs.Anyway, this shows how amazingly casual things were regarding German POWs by early 1944, in contrast to the hysteria associated with June, 1942.On a related note, in the early 1990s I was at a large international science meeting in Washington D.C. This meeting included a cocktail party at the then relatively new Air & Space Museum on the Mall. I couldn’t get at the exhibit of a Japanese Zero nor a German ME-109. Clustered around the former were a dozen or so Japanese in animated conversation, with their backs turned. Ditto for the Germans around the ME-109. I had to content myself with the other exhibits, e.g., a large exhibit explaining the F4U Corsair and “The Great Mariannas Turkey Shoot”. So, in this particular specific context, things were not casual at all. But, as others have noted on Quora, things were pretty casual regarding German POWs in America as WWII wore on. In that era I think Americans had an amazing ability to adjust.

My mother Elisabeth was very self sufficient even at 86 yrs. old. She lived in Bowling Green, Ohio and I in Montreal, Quebec. She would take her cart and go grocery shopping at Grogger’s every week. She would do her laundry by hand. She would walk 45 minutes to her doctor’s appointments when needed . She also did her banking and believe me , she knew how much she had to the last cent.She matched her outfits like a pro, and then on Sunday she would cook a full meal for my sister and family and bring it to them who lived nearby.All was well and we all were proud of her strength of character and endurance she demonstrated us. She is a role model to be followed! Until……the day she forgot to take her medication! in fact , she forgot to take her pills for a whole week. I used to call her very often in the morning to make sure she was ok. One morning to my great surprise, this tiny confused voice answered me.I thought I had a wrong number. Then, I realized it was her. Alarmed, I asked what happened and she said she must have forgotten to take her medication. She told me that she would hang up and go to sleep for she was so tired.I insisted that she stayed awake…while with my cell phone , I dialed my sister and explained her precocious mental state. My sister arrived momentarily and took her to the nearby hospital. Bottom line, she had a stroke.(a blood clot in the brain)Upon her hospital discharge, she was sent to a temporary recovery home. The place was a brand new attractive modern facility. I felt uplifted by the luxury of the environment .My sister Vivien from Colorado, took on the first shift with her. I thought that it would be best that we all took turns staying with her, so she would never be alone.When it came my time, Vivien filled me in on all the chores which I needed to do.My sister went back to Colorado. While I was there, I was busy doing everything to make my mother comfortable, yet I took notice of everything that was going on in the home. I left after two weeks for I had other engagements back in Montreal..My sister Vivien, was suppose to come back. Then as I just got back, her husband calls and tells me that she was in the hospital for she had a serious accident with her horse, and broke her back and would not be able to go back to my mom in Ohio.I went back and in my short absence my mother’s right leg had become the size if a tree’s trunk. livid pink, scarlet and hard and impenetrable as water melon. Wow! I could not believe my eyes what I was seeing.The attending physician was the head of the geriatics in that area of Ohio. I asked for an explanation on her present condition. She answered that my mother had liberentetis and had to live with this condition. I asked if she had gotten a second opinion on this diagnosis. She seemed very offended by my remark and arrogantly told me that she was the head of all the gerryatics in that area. I insisted that she would give me some reference. I was there to take my mother to a permanent home .She scribbled me some names on a paper and I left.As soon as I arrived at the new home, I asked immediately to see the head nurse and demonstrated to her my mother’s leg . She was aghast with my mother’s condition and insisted that we take her immediately to the hospital, for surely she had another blood clot in the leg. I recounted the doctor prognosis of liberentetis. She started laughing, ”anyone with two cents of knowledge of medicine would know that she has another blood clot. And her condition is very serious.”As soon, as we arrived in the hospital that the head nurse suggested,, the attending physicians scrambled with haste to put her on intervenus Lovenox to break the clot . The physician who took charge of my mother declared that there had been “gross misdiagnosis” of the severity of her condition. He told me how lucky she was to still be alive.Naturally, I refused to pay the charges at the first home and reported this incident to the Board of Health. To make a long story short, the arrogant gerryatics resigned from the home. Shortly after, she called me in Montreal. “Philomena, I hear you are suing me. Well I will counter sue you and take away your house in Florida.”Before I had a chance to speak and tell her that I was not suing her, she hung up. I took a picture of her call.Now , she is advertising on the internet that she is a 5 star doctor with the best references. She quit before she had a chance to get fired.Today, my mom is 90 years old with dementia but she is pretty alert and lives half a year in Montreal and the other half in Florida with me. She walks without a case, she enjoys watching the many flowers in my garden , the birds, the tides of the sea, the changing seasons . She enjoys visiting her many grandkids and great grandkids and finds time still to read novels and go to the Opera. Living with me, she has a better quality of life, she eats healthier meals and less drugs. In most nursing homes, people with dementia are like zambis. I thank God for giving me the chance to let my mother live a better life. And, I hope my kids are taking notes!