Resources for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Homeless, With a New Loss: Identity

www.nytimes.com

There is always plenty to worry about when you are homeless. The most pressing concerns have to do with health and finances, of course. But occasionally there are other worries — deeper, odder, more unexpected. Some are even existential. A while ago, I met a man in a shelter clinic who described the worry that preoccupied him.

The situation was medically straightforward; events should have unfolded predictably. He had pulled a muscle in his shoulder. If he had been working with a primary-care doctor, he would have gone to see him. But he had been homeless for years, floating from city to city and shelter to shelter. So he went, uneconomically but expectantly, to the emergency room.

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