He's in Beaverton, OR. I was right in the middle of switching jobs, so as soon as I could I got a flight up to see him, hoping he would still be around.

He was discharged from the hospital, but not sure exactly why. He shouldn't have been. We suspect it was for insurance reasons, similar to your post.

His next door neighbor was a home healthcare nurse, and literally helped keep my friend alive (helping him use the bathroom, bathing, medications, etc.) while also fighting the battle to get him readmitted.

His only other family member in the house was his son, who had just had reconstructive ankle surgery.

So, while there I cooked for both of them, and cleaned up the house, while the neighbor did the medical care (for free!) and navigated the hospital/insurance issues.

We got someone from Kaiser to come to the house, and she said he should never have been sent home. An ambulance picked him up, and then I left for the airport to head home.

They got his kidneys restarted, they got some of his energy back. "Maybe 2 weeks" turned into maybe another month, then he might make it to his birthday in April.

1 year later, he's still alive, and able to cook for himself again. I don't think he has too many years left, but his life was almost cut way shorter than it should have been. Good ol Kaiser.